Predestined
by Lin Sheng
Summary: The source of all Sorceresses Rears its ugly head. The heroes need to figure out the secrets of their past before it's too late. Insert another cliche.
1. Chapter One: The Wild Goose Chase

Predestined

A FFVIII Fan Fic By Laura J. Post

Chapter One:

The Wild Goose Chase

"Ok," said Rinoa, standing by the entrance to the second floor balcony on the flying Garden Base. She looked up at Squall. He wasn't happy, not that he ever was, but he was _exceptionally _not happy at the moment.

Of course, Rinoa understood why. She wasn't happy about it either, but it couldn't be helped.

"I tried asking Cid to reconsider..." Squall said, apologetically.

When the battle with Ultimecia had ended, Squall had handed over his duties as Garden Commander almost immediately to Cid. Who would not accept them. Instead, Cid had reassumed the role of headmaster. He has control over the instruction of new SeeDs, and of where the flying Garden traveled.

Squall, however, had to keep his role as Garden Commander and whenever it was time for battle, Squall was in charge.

What Squall had wanted Cid to reconsider was his choice of ambassador. Usually, Cid would go to other cities to discuss peace and mutual agreements on trading and such, leaving Squall in charge temporarily. It was quite convenient. However, Cid had taken ill this past week, and wouldn't be able to travel to Esthar to discuss trade agreements with President Loire for their technology.

He chose Rinoa to go instead. He supposedly chose her because of her military lineage, and because she knew all the correct diplomatic procedures. Despite what anyone said, Cid was certain Rinoa was the best choice for the job, and in this situation, Squall had no power to override it.

"I did too..." Rinoa said.

"So then..."Squall stood there. After a minute of silence and contemplation, Rinoa just flew into his arms. Squall put his hands around her waist and kissed her gently on the lips.

Finally, when they parted, Rinoa picked up her bags. "...I'll be back soon..."

Squall nodded.

"Goodbye," she waved as she began to walk out, Angelo at her side.

Squall waved back. Once Rinoa turned away from him, he stomped off to the training center. He wouldn't have been able to watch her leave any longer without following. Besides he needed to let off steam...Badly.

"Yo Squall!" a voice from behind him called.

Squall turned and glared, his fists still clenched.

"Whoa," Zell said, jumping back a bit. "Heh heh," he scratched the back of his neck, "Guess Rinoa's gone then, eh?"

Squall turned and kept walking. Zell could be such an idiot sometimes.

"Where are you going?" Zell said, following a few steps behind.

"Training center."

"Want me to join?"

"...Whatever..."

_Good old Squall_, thought Zell as he followed him in.

Rinoa stood on the FH platform. It was crowded with people. After Ultimecia had been defeated, and the Galbadian tyranny had ended, the Horizon Line Trains had begun operating again. The countries were trying to create a sense of unity and support for one another, and reopening the Horizon Bridge was the first step.

She walked on to the train to Esthar, ignoring all the people who were bumping into her. Esthar had decided to re-open its doors to the public, and many people wanted to go and see the technology there.

As she walked down the hall to her room she could almost hear Selphie singing, "...Train Train take us away..." As she closed her door the thought brought a smile to her face.

She had hoped Squall would have been able to see her off from the platform, but once she was dropped off, the Garden was on the move again. As she looked out her window she could see its silhouette on the horizon.

Rinoa still didn't understand why Cid _had_ to pick her. Quistis was just as educated in the formal procedures as she was. Apparently, though, Cid had done it for another reason too...

She remembered going to see him when she had found out he had chosen her. Edea had tried to shoo her away, but she kept insisting until she was allowed in.

"Why?" Rinoa had asked, sitting next to him.

"I've already said 'why'," Cid said in reply.

"That isn't it. At least not _all_ of it," Rinoa said arms crossed.

Cid gave a small smile and nodded, "You know people too well, Rinoa." He sighed for a moment, he had been hoping she would just do what he said and not ask "Why?" But Rinoa wasn't that type of person, it was one of her more obnoxious, and most charming, qualities. "Very well, but you have to swear it won't leave this room."

Rinoa didn't understand why he was being so serious, but none-the-less she nodded. "I give you my word," she said, doing her best to match his grave tone.

"Alright. Now since Squall is Garden Commander, we would want him to be as strong as possible right?"

Rinoa nodded.

"Now there's no question as to his fighting ability. As a fighter, there is none more powerful. However, he does have his weaknesses, but we all do, right?"

"...Yes...?" Wasn't this obvious? Why was he telling her this?

"The only problem is that Squall's weakness is, exceptionally bad. Because of this weakness, he could put the Garden in unnecessary danger. I know that as headmaster, I need to make sure he's using the best judgment for the students. Therefore, I'm obligated to do what's best for the students and for him. You understand?"

"Yes," Rinoa said flatly. Why wouldn't he get to the point?

"Well, see Rinoa, that weakness is well...his love for you."

"What?" she asked, taken aback. She wasn't exactly thrilled to be called a 'weakness'. Didn't her feelings matter?

"Now, don't take it the wrong way," said Cid, noticing the expression on her face, "It isn't that I think that his love for you is bad, as a matter of fact, it's the opposite. However, he feels like he won't be able to go on living if you weren't constantly at his side."

_And why not?_, thought Rinoa,_ That's the way I feel about him._

"All I want to do is have you go on this trip so that he can see that if you leave for a few days, the world would _not_ come to an end. Besides, I'm sure _you'd_ like him to realize that you can take care of yourself. Am I right?"

"...I...suppose..." said Rinoa, she _had_ always wanted him to be a little more aware of her fighting abilities...Still, she hated having to leave the Garden...

"I'm glad you understand. Now...Edea's giving me the nastiest look for not resting, so I think I must ask you to leave," he smiled at Edea.

Rinoa nodded and stood up.

"-and remember," he said as she was out the door, "this stays between us. If Squall found out, it would ruin the point."

Rinoa had left angry. And she was still angry. She understood that Cid felt like a father figure to Squall, and that he was trying to do what was "best for him", but what about her? Why do parents always do that? Her father had always tried to do what was best for her. When her mother died he had tried to take her place, as if he could even _understand_ what she and her mother had had. He had begun to give her rules there had never been before. All for her "safety". She couldn't go out alone, she wasn't permitted to fight, she could not chose the boys she dated, and he would continue to create new rules every time he felt there was a "threat". _That_ was what had driven her away, and _that_ was what had first driven her to Seifer's arms. Her father would have hated him. Of course, later, other things came into play...

She sighed as she returned to the present moment. This was going to be a long ride.

"Dude!" said Zell, "You totally nailed that T-Rexaur in only 1 hit! You sure you aren't tired of using all them Limit Breaks?"

"...Whatever..." said Squall, dripping with sweat. It was true his muscles were sore, but he didn't care about the physical pain, at least the thrill of the fight was helping to take his mind away...

"Yo! That's it!," Zell sounded angry, "What happened? Did Rinoa take your voice away or something?!"

Squall looked at him blankly, _More like my soul..._ he thought.

"Tch! Squall, you need to chill, dude, it's not like she's _dead_, she'll be-"

Squall grabbed Zell by the shirt and whipped him around. "**Shut up!**" he yelled. He let go of Zell letting him fall to the ground. He then grabbed his coat and marched out of the training center.

"Damn..."said Zell, dazed.

"Hey Squall!" it was Selphie, walking with Irvine to the cafeteria. "Wanna 

come-?"

He waved his hand and blew her off. He continued to his dorm room.

"What's _his _problem?" asked Irvine as they continued walking.

"He's upset about Rinoa," said Selphie.

"Aww, come on! It's only a few days! Besides this place is filled with beautiful women!"

Selphie looked at him. "Of course, you being the most beautiful," he continued. She smiled ecstatically. "Except maybe for _her_," he said lifting his hat to one of the trainees with a sly smile. Selphie punched him in the gut. "Ok, ok, I'm kidding!" he said, still laughing a little.

"Still, I don't see why Squall's blowin' it all outta proportion."

"Well," said Selphie, "I can understand him being mad at Cid. He was being a little unreasonable about the whole thing."

"I guess," said Irvine with a shrug as they entered the cafeteria.

"_It's not like she's dead_" the words kept repeating through Squall's head as he lay in his room.

Didn't they understand? For all they knew, she _could_ be dead. He jumped up, and began pacing his room. Thoughts were running through his head of all the terrible things that could happen. He sat down again and held his head in his hands. He had to trust that everything would be ok. He had to trust it. He had to trust Rinoa...

"That Bastard!" he said out load, punching his wall and cracking the plaster. _Why did he have to send Rinoa away_?

"Zell, are you alright?" it was Quistis, who had been making the rounds to keep in shape. Zell was still sitting on the floor.

"Yeah I'm fine," Zell said as she helped him up.

Quistis crossed her arms, "Any reason you were sitting on the training center floor?"

"Yeah..." said Zell. Quistis raised one eyebrow. "Dude, I'm worried about Squall. All I said was one little thing about Rinoa, the BAM! Next thing I'm on the floor. Dude, I knew he was upset, but-Damn!"

"We'd better go talk to him. However, if he's in the mood you said he's in, perhaps we ought to let him cool off a bit."

"No kidding," Zell said, brushing himself off.

"Come on," Quistis said, "I'll buy you a hot dog."

"Oh yeah!" said Zell, running up next to her.

Just as Quistis and Zell were leaving the training center, monsters began to pour in from the front gate.

"Holy Shit!" said Zell. SeeD sprung into action. Students everywhere began to fight the monsters. They were severely outnumbered.

"I'm going to go find Squall!" Quistis told Zell as she ran toward the dorms, fighting her way through the beasts.

Selphie and Irvine ran up. "What's going on?" asked Irvine as he shot monsters off one by one.

"Dude, I got no clue!" said Zell, "One second its all normal-like the next, these monsters are everywhere!"

"Where's Squall? And Quistis?" Selphie asked.

"Quistis went to go get Squall and-" they all stopped, dumbstruck.

A woman had entered the room. She had pure white skin with hair just as white that fell down to her waist. Long robes of red whipped around in the wind that was caused by the flapping of her immense, white, wings. She scanned the room with glowing red eyes as she flew over the fighting.

"I-I-I'm getting Squall!" said Zell, running the same way Quistis did. He ran toward the dorms, destroying anything that stood in his way. He finally found Quistis and Squall, fighting off the monsters that had made it to the dorms.

"Guys, we got problems!" shouted Zell over the din of the fighting.

"Zell, what are you-?" Quistis began.

"-What kind of Problems?" Squall asked. The winged woman began to fly toward them.

Zell pointed. "BIG problems!"

Quistis cast aura on Squall and he began to use Lionheart on her over and over.

Not even a scratch. She continued past, not even paying attention to their existence.

Squall then tried using magic, attacking with Ultima, tripled.

Again no effect.

The winged creature had entered an empty room and began to tear it apart.

Squall tried using GFs, Eden, Bahamut, Gilgamesh.

Nothing.

The creature, having thoroughly trashed the room, blew out the wall to the outside and left. The monsters all fled with her. Squall leaned heavily on his gunblade. If his muscles were sore before, now they screamed out in agony. However, now was not the time to worry about physical pain.

"Squall, Quistis, Zell!" called Selphie running up. "The monster's left!"

Leave it to Selphie to state the obvious. "We know," replied Quistis.

"Is there any damage?" Squall asked.

"A few injuries," said Selphie, "but nothing Dr.Kadowaki can't handle."

"...and, property-wise?"

"Nothing," said Selphie, "She just passed right over everything."

"Then there's only one question left..." Squall looked at the room, the bed was overturned, paper was ripped from the walls, closets and trunks were emptied and destroyed. Rinoa's tattered belongings lay everywhere. "...What did she want with Rinoa?"

Rinoa jumped off the train at the Esthar station. _Not a moment too soon_, she thought. If she had to sit around on that train for another second she was going to go insane. She scanned the crowd for familiar faces. It wasn't hard to spot Ward, head and shoulders above everyone else. Ward, Kiros, and Ellone waved. Rinoa waved back as she walked over.

Ellone ran up and hugged her. "How is Squall?" she asked.

Rinoa wasn't surprised it was the first question out of her mouth. "He's doing fine," Rinoa said, not bothering to mention how upset he had been when she left.

"And how are _you_, Rinoa?" asked Kiros as Ward grabbed her bags.

"_Very_ tired of trains," Rinoa said with a smile, trains brought back too many memories of when she was with the Timber Owls...when everything began...

That was the problem, they got her to think too much. Especially about Squall.

Kiros laughed as he held the car door open for Rinoa and Ellone. Rinoa spent most of the drive telling Ellone about how all the "orphanage gang" was doing, and sharing Squall anecdotes. However, this brought Rinoa little comfort, since it only made her want to see Squall even more.

When they arrived at the Presidential Palace in Esthar, it was rather late. However Laguna still came out to meet them.

"Hello, Rinoa," Laguna started, "I'm so glad you came, I mean um...I'm sorry Cid's sick and all, cause being sick isn't any fun, but its just so nice to see you again."

Kiros rolled his eyes, as did Ward. "I think its quite a bit late, Laguna," said Kiros, "And we'd all like to get some sleep."

"Oh! Yeah! Well, of course, sure," said Laguna, scratching the back of his head. "Uh... would you mind sharing a room with Ellone, Rinoa? I don't have an extra room made up yet..."

"...because he forgot you were coming until an hour ago," Kiros finished.

"Hey now, that's not cool!" Laguna started, "You don't want to make her feel unwanted or anything! I know that-"

Rinoa smiled, "-Laguna, I don't mind at all."

"Mind what?" he replied.

They all began to crack up. Finally, Rinoa grabbed her things and followed Ellone. _She looks so much like her mother,_ Laguna thought as Rinoa left.

Rinoa plopped down onto the bed across from Ellone.

"Tired, huh?" asked Ellone sitting on her own bed.

"Its been a long day," said Rinoa, kicking off her boots.

That night Rinoa fell asleep instantly. At first her dreams were of being in Squall's arms back at Garden, but then she flew above the garden and was watching as it was being attacked. Squall was fighting valiantly but he was in pain, she wanted to help, but she was too far away to do anything. Suddenly, burning red eyes were staring at her. Rinoa awoke with a gasp, and sat up. Ellone had done the same thing.

"Squall needs me," Rinoa said, jumping out of bed, and pulling on her boots.

"Rinoa wait!" said Ellone in a whisper. She knew what Rinoa had dreamed, and she had dreamed the same thing. However, unlike Rinoa, she felt a greater sense of danger, more that it was a warning to be careful.

"What?" she asked grabbing her Shooting Star Projectile.

"Just because you had a dream where Garden was attacked doesn't mean-"

"How did you know what I dreamed?" asked Rinoa.

_How could I have screwed up already?_ She thought. "You just told me."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

Rinoa raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't lie to me Ellone," she sounded like a mother scolding a child.

"Please don't go Rinoa, I _mean_ it."

Rinoa looked back at her, her eyes clear and level. "I have to go back to him Ellone. I just _have_ to."

Ellone nodded, she could see it in Rinoa's eyes she was telling the truth.

"Thank you." Rinoa quietly snuck out. Angelo following silently behind her.

She walked through the darkened streets of Esthar. She hoped the gill she had with her was enough to get her to Dollet, where the Garden would stop next.

"Hey, look! If it ain't our buddy Rinoa, ya know?" said a voice in the shadows.

"CONFRONTATION!" came another.

"Hey guys, relax," Seifer walked into the light. "How are you Rinoa?" Raijin and Fujin also entered the light. The three of them were blocking her path.

"I don't have time for this Seifer. Angelo Rush!" Angelo jumped at Seifer, which budged him a little but not much.

He raised one eyebrow. "You think your _dogs_ going to move me?"

Rinoa took out her Shooting Star.

"Hey now, I'm not out for a fight," said Seifer holding up his bare hands.

"Besides, I don't hit ladies, ya know?" Raijin said.

"WIMP" replied Fujin, kicking him in the shins.

Seifer rolled his eyes. "I just wanted to know what you're doing in Esthar, by yourself, at 3 in the morning?"

"Why should I tell you?" said Rinoa, lowering her weapon but ready to raise it at any time.

"No reason you should," said Seifer shrugging, "but there's no real reason you shouldn't either."

"If I tell you, will you get out of my way?" she asked.

"Sure," he said, "whatever the princess desires."

Rinoa accidentally smiled a little, no one had called her princess for a long time now. "I'm trying to catch up with the flying garden in Dollet. Now-"

"-Any reason why?" Seifer asked before she could ask him to move.

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "I have a feeling a large battle is about to happen, or already happened on Balamb Garden and I need to be there. May I leave now?"

Seifer stepped aside and motioned for her to go ahead. However, as she left they began to follow her.

"Large battle, eh?" said Seifer, walking beside her, "Sounds pretty dangerous. Sounds like you need some escorts."

"No Seifer."

"SHOT DOWN" said Fujin.

"Hey, give Seifer a break, Fujin, ya know?"

"Both of you, quiet," said Seifer forcefully. "Why don't you want our help?" he asked Rinoa.

"Oh I don't know," she said sarcastically, "You _did_ try to kill me several times..."

Seifer made a motion for Fujin and Raijin to hold back. They obeyed. "Rinoa, I'm sorry," he said.

"What?" Rinoa asked. She stopped and looked up at him. He was looking at her with the same eyes he had had before he became the "Sorceresses Knight."

"I said I'm sorry dammit!" he looked away. "Doesn't anybody believe in redemption anymore?"

Rinoa looked at him for a long while. He seemed so distant, and, almost helpless. Not at all like when she had met him. He used to be full of confidence, self-assured, he never would have apologized for _anything_ back then. had his experience as the "Knight" changed him that much? "I forgive you," she said, finally.

"Thank you," he said. "Then," he raised his voice as Fujin and Raijin came closer, "may we escort you to Dollet?" 

"Fine," said Rinoa, giving in. At least she didn't think they'd do any harm.

"You, Seifer, Why are we babysittin a stupid princess anyway, ya know?" asked Raijin.

"IDIOT!" said Fujin punching him in the ribs.

"Fujin, ya know, why you always pickin on me, ya know?"

"ENJOYMENT!" said Fujin with a smile.

The three of them laughed, Rinoa couldn't help but laugh a little too. Maybe the companionship of some people would do her good.

The Garden stopped outside of Esthar at 8 am that morning, which was 12 hours after the attack on Garden. The Garden Base was now able to go on almost any terrain, thanks to some modifications from Esthar. Rinoa should have been talking about payment for those modifications.

Squall, Zell, and Quistis arrived at the presidential palace at 8:15 am.

The guard eyed them suspiciously. "Business?"

"Squall Leonheart, Zell Dincht, and Quistis Trepe. We're representatives of the Balamb Garden Base and it is imperative that we speak with our comrade, Rinoa Heartily," Squall rattled off, with a look that made anyone think twice about questioning him.

"Come in," said the guard.

As they sat in the lobby, Ellone came with Kiros. "Squall!" Ellone cried, "You're here! You're alright!" Ellone had been pretty shaken by the dream also.

"Where's Rinoa?" Squall asked. 

Ellone's face went blank. "Kiros, could you go wake Laguna? I want to see him before I go." Kiros nodded and left.

"Ellone! Where's Rinoa?!"

"Last night...We both dreamed that the Garden was under attack..."

"We _were_ attacked last night. That's why we're here."

"...Well...we weren't sure if it was a premonition of what, but-"

"Sis," Squall looked at her with pleading eyes, "Where is Rinoa?"

Ellone looked away. "She went looking for you."

"Dammit," said Squall, fists clenching.

"I asked her to stay but-"

"It's ok, Sis, its not your fault. But we need to find her, fast."

"...I don't understand."

Squall had gone silent. So Quistis answered in his stead, "We're dead positive whatever attacked the Garden is after Rinoa"

Ellone put her hand to her mouth with a bit of a gasp. How could she have not figured it out.

"It sure is quiet in here," Laguna said as he walked in. "Squall! Quistis! Zell! What are all of you doing here?"

"There's a situation, Uncle Laguna," said Ellone.

"What's wrong?"

"Rinoa's run off, and there is some strange creature after her. It might be a sorceress..."

"Oh! This is Awful! How'd she sneak out? Didn't any of the security catch her? Rotten security...isn't worth the salary I-"

"-Don't worry, Laguna," said Quistis, "nobody's blaming you."

"Still I-"

"-Laguna, I'm going with. I may be able to help them," said Ellone.

Laguna stared at her for quite some time, he then answered hesitantly, "...Alright, Ellone, but be careful. Please."

"I will, Uncle Laguna," Ellone wrapped her arms around him.

They began to leave, they couldn't let the trail get too cold.

"Tell me the instant you find her!" Laguna called after them.

They searched the Esthar Area, from Dr.Odine's Laboratory to Lunatic Pandora and then back to the great salt lake. By the end of the first day, there was no sign of Rinoa.

After having spent all day walking across the Horizon Bridge, Rinoa thought she would have been more tired. Her, Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin had set up camp in one of the forests nearby Obel Lake. They hadn't had enough for a hotel room in Timber, unless they didn't want to eat tomorrow, but Rinoa had never been all that picky about where she slept. If she _could_ sleep.

She tossed and turned and...just wasn't tired. She decided to go over by some heavier tree cover, away from the fire, where it was dark.

She sat down on a fallen tree and looked up at the star filled sky. She kept thinking she saw a shooting star in the corner of her eye, repeatedly, but every time she looked, there was nothing. She missed Squall so much. All she could think about was the comfort and safety of his arms.

"You're thinking about him, aren't you?" Seifer was standing behind her. She nodded. "Can I ask you something?" he sat down next to her, also looking at the sky.

"What?" she asked, not turning her eyes toward him.

"Did you ever think about me like that?"

Rinoa looked at him puzzled. Being the Sorceresses Knight _had_ changed him, "...I...did once," she replied hesitantly.

"Would you ever think about me like that again?"

"...I love Squall, Seifer."

"Then there's nothing between us," he said.

"That's not true, Seifer. There is _something_, and, when I met you, I thought it was love. But, now I know what love is, and...well...whatever it is between us, it isn't love."

"Another point for Squall then," he said bitterly.

Rinoa, didn't like being considered a "point", but Seifer seemed upset as it was, and she didn't say anything about it. "I don't see why you have to be rivals," she said, carefully choosing her words, knowing she was treading on dangerous ground, "Can't you just be comrades?"

"No!" said Seifer, standing up, "I won't play second fiddle to him!"  
"But then you're still competing!" said Rinoa, also standing up. "If you were his comrade you would be his _equal_ not his lesser _or_ better."

"...I can't do that," Seifer replied plainly.

"Why?"

"Because, all my life I've know I was missing something. I tried to prove myself that I wasn't, by being 'The _Best_". But then your lover boy has to come and show me up and rub his _completeness_ in my face! I can't feel whole again until I prove to him that I'm the best..." he seemed to let his mind drift off on that.

"...I...don't understand," Rinoa said after a long pause.

"How could you? You're complete!" he said. There was another long pause. "I think I finally understand why your lover boy is so quiet," Seifer said, walking back to the fire, "If you don't say anything, you'll never say anything you regret." Rinoa would have replied, but she didn't know what to say. "Goodnight Rinoa, and my apologies for my ramblings..."

"...Goodnight," Rinoa had finally managed to spit out. What had just happened? She knew that what Seifer had said was of great consequence, but she didn't understand him in the least.

Seifer's words replayed in her dreams that night.

It was still dark out when Rinoa had been awakened by a sound. A low, rumbling, like an earthquake, yet the ground was firm beneath her.

As Rinoa sat up, she had quite a shock. they were surrounded by hundreds of people, all wearing black, hooded cloaks, and producing a low pitched hum.

"Seifer!" she whispered, tugging on his sleeve. Why were they all just standing there? "Seifer!" she whispered a little louder.

"Mgah...lugh...rmagh...What?" he asked still half asleep.

"Shh! We have company."

When Seifer saw their "company". He woke with a start, "...the hell?"

"What should we do?" asked Rinoa.

"Kick their asses, that's what! Raijin! Fujin! Up!" Seifer barked at them. Despite Seifer's yelling, the people in black remained perfectly still and continued with their humming.

"TIRED" said Fujin.

"Yo, Seifer, why you doin' this, ya know?" grumbled Raijin, semi-conscious.

"Stop whining, you two, we got a battle!"

Fujin and Raijin were ready to go instantly. The only problem was when they tried to attack, the cloaks had such powerful shells and protects, no damage could be dealt.

"...the hell is this?" asked Seifer.

"I don't know," said Rinoa, "but their protects are so strong we can't even leave through the crowd."

"FRUSTRATING!"

"Yeah, ya know? What are we supposed to do, ya know?"

Rinoa shrugged, "Sit and wait I suppose."

"Wait for what?" Seifer yelled. "What do you want from us?!" he yelled into one's face, "What are we waiting for!?!"

"More like, _who_ are you waiting for?" a million voices filled the sky.

They all looked up. A pale woman in a blood red dress descended from the sky. When she spoke, a million screaming voices filled the air. "You and you," she pointed at Rinoa and Seifer, "come with me now, and I promise no one will be harmed."

"Not without a fight!" screamed Seifer.

"Alright then," she laughed, "you may have your battle." 

Suddenly the cloaked people came charging at them. The cloaks fought with power that was otherworldly. Before the blink of an eye, Rinoa and Seifer were rendered unconscious, and Fujin and Raijin had been left for dead.

"PAIN" Fujin said when she finally came to.

"Yeah, ya know, totally kicked our asses, ya know?"

"KIDNAPPED"

"Yeah, Seifer and Rinoa are gone, ya know? What're we gonna do, ya know?"

"SQUALL"

"Oh man Fujin, ya know! We gotta ask _him_ for help?"

"DEFINETLY" she said as she stood and slowly began to walk toward Timber.

"Wait! Ya know? I'm still in pain here, ya know?!?" he called after her.

"Dude, Squall, you alright?" asked Zell.

"Yeah, you don't look too good," said Selphie.

"...Whatever..." Squall had been up all night double checking the area and seeing if she was at the Esthar Train Station. "Rinoa isn't in the Esthar Area. We'll be going to FH."

"Got it!" said Nida.

They had been on their way for about an hour, when Ellone came running up. "Squall!" he turned, hopeful. Before, Ellone hadn't been able to connect with Rinoa, there had been some sort of Interference, which only made Squall more anxious. "I connected! Rinoa is heading toward Dollet."

"Anything else?" Squall asked, "Is she alright?"

"Well..." said Ellone, she hadn't wanted to tell him this, "...she's with Seifer."

"Seifer!" said Squall, "What is he-?"

"-Don't worry, Squall. When I was connected, they seemed on friendly terms."

This didn't bring Squall much comfort, but he was glad Rinoa was safe. "Nida, Dollet," he said.

"No, Timber," said Ellone. Squall looked at her puzzled. "They're on foot. I doubt they've made it to Dollet yet." Squall nodded.

As the Garden pulled up to the Timber Shore, Fujin and Raijin waved wildly. Squall exited the Garden with Ellone and Zell and approached them.

"Where's Rinoa?" Squall asked, clearly angry.

"Yeah! What is she doing with you scum?!" said Zell.

"Hey, ya know! Give us a little respect, ya know. We were escorting her to Dollet, ya-"

"-SILENCE!" Fujin punched Raijin in the Ribs. "RINOA, KIDNAPPED."

"What?" Squalls fists clenched in anger.

"Yeah, ya know. Seifer too, ya know. These black cloaked guys surrounded us, ya know. Had us trapped in a shield, ya know."

"...the interference..." said Ellone.

"ATTACKED."

"Yeah, this woman in red, came and took Seifer and Rinoa, ya know?"

"Yes, we know," said Squall, "What did she want?"

"Got now clue, ya know. But she wanted 'em alive, ya know?"

Squall stood there, silent. So Rinoa was still alive, but there wasn't any guarantee how long that would be true. He turned to walk back to the Garden.

"ACCOMPANY" said Fujin, following him.

"I believe you two were banished from Garden," said Squall in monotone as he continued to walk toward the Garden.

"Come on! Ya know, we could help ya find Rinoa, ya know?"

"AFFIRMATIVE"

"How!?!" Squall turned.

"When you let us on Garden, ya know?"

Squall whipped out his gunblade and put it to Raijin's neck. "How," he commanded.

"SOUTH"

Squall lowered his weapon, "Thanks," he grunted. He turned to leave, Ellone and Zell right behind him..

"Come one, Squall, ya know. We gotta help Seifer, ya know! We're his posse, ya know?!?"

Squall paused, not turning to face them, "...Whatever..." he said, implying they may join.

"Oh yeah! Thanks Squall, ya know?" Raijin jumped up and down.

Fujin kicked him. "MORON!"

When Rinoa awoke, she was in a cave, and bound at the hand's and feet. She looked over at Seifer. He was conscious, and it seemed he had been for some time.

A cloaked man walked over to her. He poked and prodded and examined her. It felt like she was a fruit and the cloak was checking to see how ripe she was. "What do you want?" she asked.

He paid no heed. He grabbed her necklace. He spent a long time examining her ring. Quickly he shuffled away.

"How long have we been here?" She asked Seifer after the cloak left.

"Two days, I think," said Seifer, looking over at her.

"Do you know anything?"

"No," Seifer shook his head. "The woman who captured us hasn't even shown up. Only those cloaks who keep coming to make sure we're still alive."

"I'm so glad you're both finally up," as if hearing her name, the woman in red entered the area of the cavern.

"What do you want?!" Seifer snapped.

"I want many things, but what I want at the present is justice," she said.

Two cloaks brought in an elaborately decorated throne and bowed. The woman in red gently sat down, folding in her wings.

"Who are you?" Rinoa asked.

"I am Hyne, creator of all life, and now, the destroyer of all life," her millions of voices cackled.

"What...?" Rinoa asked. Surely this woman must be insane. She couldn't be Hyne. Hyne was the all powerful creator, still, something in her "voice" told Rinoa what she said was true. "You said you want justice. Justice for what?" she finally asked.

"Eighty years ago, the people of the Centra betrayed me. I sent down a plague of monsters, which you now call the "Lunar Cry", destroying everything. However, some of the Centra escaped. I had sent down three sorceresses, each with a bit of my own power in them, to finish what I had started. All of them failed, as did their descendants. They were all too greedy to obey their true calling."

"-That isn't true!" Rinoa said, "I want nothing to do with Power or Money, I just want to live a normal life!" _With Squall_, she added in her mind.

"As I said, too worried about your own desires to follow your TRUE objective. Now I have some to do it myself," she continued, "I shall gather the sorceress' power and then destroy the Centra."

"The Centra are gone!" Seifer yelled, "They must all be dead by now! It's been 80 years!" Seifer yelled.

Hyne looked down her nose at him, "Their blood still lives in their descendants. Now, Sorceress Rinoa, I'll be needing your power back..."

"-The Hell you need me for, then?!?" Seifer yelled.

"You are the Sorceresses Knight, are you not?"  
The words took the fight out of him.

"Now as I said..." Red light began to pour out of Hyne's hands and shot as a constant beam toward Rinoa.

Rinoa felt like her insides were being pulled apart while her outsides were being squeezed together. The pain penetrated every crevice of her soul. Everything was being torn apart. _I'm sorry Squall_, Rinoa thought, _I was supposed to be saving you..._ She wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to endure the pain when-

"-RINOA!!" Squall ran in and deflected the ray with Lionheart. Hyne was about to make short work of him when Raijin, Fujin, Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, and Ellone came running up.

Hyne stopped and looked from Ellone to Squall to Rinoa and to Seifer. "The four of you...united? Then I must have that ring... We will finish this later," she said as she flew off, her minions trailing behind her.

"Rinoa, are you alright?" Squall said, untying her.

"...I...think so. A little dizzy, but I'm alive-" Squall swept her into his arms and kissed her as if he hadn't seen her in 100 years. He didn't even care who was watching. He had Rinoa back, that was all that mattered.

Squall lead her back to the Garden. She leaned heavily on Squall, despite what she had said, that blast had taken a lot out of her.

Squall picked her up and carried the rest of the way. "What about you?" she asked, remembering her dream and why she had left Esthar in the first place. "Are you alright? And Garden? I had dreamt you were..."

"I know," Squall said, "We had been attacked by that creature the night you had the dream."

"That creature is Hyne."

"What?" he said stopping.

"I don't understand it either," Rinoa said shaking her head, "but I know it's true. It's almost as if I've seen her before..."

"...I know what you mean..." said Squall as he carried her onto the Garden. 

__

So much for Cid's plan, thought Rinoa, huddled in Squall's arms, _Now, I'm never letting him go._

Squall walked onto the Garden carefully, it was still hovering in midair. Rinoa and Seifer had been held in a small cave in the side of the Almaj Mountains on the Centra continent. They had been searching the continent for a few days. It had been luck that while they flew by the mountains a flash of light had erupted from the cave. Squall had practically jumped off the Garden once it got close enough.

"Hey Seifer, ya know. Got here just in time, ya know?" Raijin said as Fujin went to untie him.

"FORTUNATE"

"Yeah," said Seifer going to get his gunblade at the other side of the room. Rinoa's Shooting Star lay beside it. He picked it up also. He walked over toward the large group. He nodded a greeting to everyone, "Instructor...Selphie...Irvine...............Ellone..." he had never really _seen_ Ellone before, whenever he had seen her, she had always been just another request of the sorceress. She wasn't all that bad looking. He wore a cocky smile, "Let's not forget Chicken-wuss."

"You wanna mess with me?!?" said Zell, practicing a few punches.

Quistis looked at him, "Zell, calm down."

Seifer laughed as he walked past them. Chicken-wuss was always good for a laugh.

Next: Chapter Two: Forgotten Lifetimes


	2. Chapter Two: Forgotten Lifetimes

##

Chapter Two:

Forgotten Lifetimes

After everyone had boarded the Garden Squall had Nida land it in a small clearing nearby. They walked outside, per Rinoa's request, to talk about what was going on and what to do next.

Squall stepped outside, "...This place just has rubble lying among the grass..." He sat next to Rinoa on a giant stone slab. The others gathered around, finding rubble to sit on.

"So the question is," Squall began, "how do you defeat a God?"

"...and why was she afraid of 'us four...united'?" added Rinoa.

"...And what is the ring she 'must' have?" said Ellone.

Squall put his head in his hand. He couldn't even ask God what to do, since that was who he was fighting. Slowly, the rubble began to swirl in and out...he thought he could see tall marble buildings, a small town...being attacked by monsters....

He passed out.

Suddenly he was traveling through nothingness. Colors and pictures flew before his eyes, it made him anxious as to how much this was like the time warp he had fell into after the battle with Ultimecia.

"What's happening?!" it was Rinoa.

"Rinoa?!" he called out, he searched in vain. Finally, he saw her up above him, floating, with her back toward him.

"Squall?" she called out. Squall swam through the air until he was next to her.

"What's going on?" Squall and Rinoa turned to see Seifer and Ellone, Ellone had spoken, "I can't disconnect," she continued, "I don't even know where I am going. I'm sorry you all got dragged along," she said, puzzled and lost.

Seifer took her hand and brought her over to Squall and Rinoa. "So, what do we do?" Seifer asked Ellone.

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "We'll just have to wait until I can disconnect."

As if in response, they landed in a time period, finally.

Squall looked around. He was standing in a dark room, lit by torches. He paced back and forth. Whoever he was, he was waiting for something.

"_Squall, Rinoa, Seifer, can you hear me?"_ Ellone's voice echoed in his head.

"_Yes,"_ all three of them replied together. _That was strange,_ thought Squall,_ we weren't able to communicate before when Ellone had connected._

Ellone continued, "_I think we can all communicate because I'm here too,_" she seemed to answer his questions, he wondered for a brief second if she could hear his thoughts. He then canceled it out, if she could hear his thoughts, he'd be able to hear hers. "_The only thing that's bugging me is..."_ she continued, _"I don't know these people. I can only send people I know in the present to people I knew in the past."_

"Don't worry, Ellone," said Seifer, "_You'll disconnect eventually, maybe then we'll make some sense of this."_

Suddenly, Squall's "host" had looked up. A woman entered the room. She wore a long purple gown adorned with silver. She had long, blonde hair and blue eyes. Still, despite that they looked nothing alike, he _knew_ it was Rinoa. No matter what she looked like on the outside, it was always her soul shining through her eyes. Just as it had always been.

Rinoa had just entered a room and Squall was standing there. Even though he had long black hair and bright green eyes, she could tell. She was sure of it.

"Keara..." whispered the man as she entered the room.

"_Rinoa..."_

"Meallan..."Keara replied as she approached him.

"_Squall..."_

Meallan held Keara tightly in his arms and kissed her as if her kisses were the nectar of life. Squall and Rinoa had no objections.

"Have Aidan and Kealan arrived yet?" Keara asked.

"No, not yet," Meallan replied, obviously anxious.

"Don't worry, they'll be here. Have they ever let us down?"

"...I suppose not." Meallan still continued to pace. Keara rolled her eyes. Squall tried to look around, but it was hard for him to get a clear picture because of Meallan's pacing. Still, he was sure he recognized this place.

"_Rinoa,_" Squall asked, "_Do you know where we are?"_

"_It seems familiar..."_ Rinoa replied, "_but I just can't put my finger on it..."_

Squall's thought was interrupted by another entrance. A man with dark brown hair wearing armor entered along with a girl with blood red hair in a long white gown. Both Rinoa and Squall recognized them as Seifer and Ellone, immediately.

_What does all this mean?_ thought Squall_, Back when Ellone had connected me to Laguna, I couldn't tell who was Kiros or Ward, why is it so blatantly obvious now?_

The brown haired man fell to one knee. "King Meallan, Queen Keara, please forgive our tardiness."

Keara smiled. "It's alright, Sir Kaelan. However, we must hurry," she said.

"Thank you, your highness," He kissed her hand.

The four of them walked up onto a platform. When they all stood on it, there was the sound of a gear switching, and a door opened in front of them. Inside was a small room made entirely of white marble. The far wall was lined with huge windows, making it possible to view the city below. It's design was similar to that of Esthar's, though the technology was not nearly as advanced. Now, however, there was fire and destruction everywhere. Monsters were attacking. They could see Hyne flying above it all.

_Is this the lunar cry Hyne mentioned?_ thought Rinoa, _then this must be Centra and we're in... "The Centra Ruins,"_ she said out loud.

"_What?"_ the other three chorused.

"_We're in the Centra ruins,"_ Rinoa repeated, "_Squall, you said you had recognized this place, this is where we got Odin. The platform we all stood on was the elevator. The door just looks like a very decorated wall..."_

"You're right," said Quall remembering the room, "_Then we-"_

He was interrupted by Meallan's voice. "Aidan, would you do the honors?"

Aidan gracefully walked up to the candle covered altar. She began to say some words in a language none of them recognized.

Suddenly a glowing image of a woman appeared before them with radiant gold hair and a long, flowing, gold robes.

All of them fell to one knee. "Meliora," Aidan said, "Goddess of all, we ask for guidance."

"What is it?" When Meliora spoke, it also sounded like a million voices, but instead of a million voices screaming, it was a million voices singing.

"The Cult of Hyne had finally risen against us," Meallan began.

"They have invoked Hyne, the demon of death and destruction," Keara continued.

"She now wreaks havoc on the city of the Centra and the followers of the light," Kealan added.

"We ask you for guidance on how to protect your people and chase this demon away from the mortal realm," Aidan finished.

"It is not yet time for the final confrontation," Meliora replied.

"Then what should we do?" Keara asked.

"You must flee. But first, take these." Four rings appeared in front of them, glowig white. Squall recognized his Griever ring. Rinoa could see her angel feather ring her mother had given her just before she died. Aidan had the ring Raine had given her when she was very young, a silver ring with an emerald eye inlaid upon it. Kaelan had a ring, however, that Seifer had never seen before, two silver swords, crossed at the center. When Kaelan put it on his finger, for the first time since Seifer had been the Sorceresses Knight, he felt complete. "These rings," continued Meliora, "will open the sacred temple in the North. Now leave Centra before all is lost." In a flash of white light, Meliora was gone. So were Rinoa, Squall, Ellone, and Seifer.

They awoke on the grass of the clearing. "Dude," said Zell, "One sec you're all fine then BOOM, you're down!"

"Did Ellone send you to the past?" asked Quistis.

"Sort of," replied Squall, rubbing his head.

"What happened?" Selphie asked.

"Squall went over to help Rinoa up. "We need to go to the Centra Ruins. The next piece of the puzzle lies there."

When they arrived at the ruins, Squall, Rinoa, Seifer, and Ellone entered, alone. Just as they had in the past, all hour stepped onto the elevator. Again, the gears switched and the door opened. They walked in. The windows had been all blown out, and the marble was cracked and burnt and missing, but it was the same room.

"Sis?" said Squall. Ellone looked around, not sure what to do. Aidan had spoken in a language she didn't understand. Still she approached the altar. When she arrived, the words came to her effortlessly, "Guthre, Adowa, Keleka," she said under her breath.

Again, the room was filled with white light and Meliora appeared.

"You have returned," she said. They all fell to one knee.

"Meliora," Ellone said, "Goddess of all, we ask for guidance."

"What is it?"

"Hyne has returned to the mortal world," said Squall.

"We do not understand the past," Rinoa continued.

"Yet again, the survivors of the Centra and Followers Of the Light are in danger," Seifer said.

"We ask for the knowledge to end this once and for all," ended Ellone.

Meliora looked perturbed. "What do you mean, you do not understand the past?"

Rinoa stood. "In the world we have been raised in, we were taught that Hyne was the Great Creator of all life, that the Centra civilization had been destroyed by a Natural event called the Lunar Cry, and that these rings were mere family heirlooms," there was a brief pause as Meliora absorbed all this. "We now seek the truth."

"In the time of the Centra," Meliora began. "The Cult of Hyne was a small group with very few followers. They believed that Hyne would cause the end of the world, and that only those who worshipped Hyne would be spared. Overall, they were ignored, however, after years of building their forces secretly, they went and summoned Hyne into the mortal realm. 80 years ago, she came, and she brought down the plague of monsters from the moon, destroying the Centra and sparring her followers. From what you say about the world today, it seems that the Cult has overtaken the world and spread their beliefs to everyone, using the destruction of the Centra as an example, leaving very few followers of the light remaining..."

Meliora paused again, taking in everything. "All of you turned to me for guidance 80 years ago, and now you all return to me for guidance now that the final confrontation is upon us."

"Meliora," it was Ellone who spoke. "When the Centra people had been destroyed, it was not we who came to you, but King Meallan, Queen Keara, Sir Kaelan, and Lady Aidan. However, we did see what happened due to my...special abilities..."

Meliora smiled at this. She had had no idea how little they had known. "My children," she said, "You _are_ Meallan, Keara, Kaelan, and Aidan. Throughout the ages you have always been my chosen ones, and defended me and the followers of the light against numerous forces of evil. And though you have been called by many names, you have always had the same souls."

_That was how I saw Rinoa in Keara,_ thought Squall,_ they are the same person._

"Now that the time has come. You must go to the sacred temple in the North. However, Seifer, you do not have your ring?"

Seifer hung his head, "...No Meliora."

Meliora's face became stern. "You must find that ring," she said with urgency, "That ring contains a piece of _you_ inside it. Whoever owns it, owns you, and all my powers combined could not bring you back. It is more powerful than if they owned a vile of your blood. As long as it is in the hands of a Centra descendant, you should be safe, but should it fall into the hands of a follower of Hyne, terrible things could happen."

_Terrible things **have** happened,_ thought Seifer. He remembered how complete he had felt when he was the Sorceresses Knight. He thought it had been because he was living out his dream, but after Adel's death, he had felt empty again, without purpose, except now, not only did he feel empty. He had seen the damage that had been done and felt guilty too.

"We will find it," Ellone said gently, more to try and support Seifer than to Meliora.

"Then go," Meliora said as she began to fade away, " Once you find it, go to the sacred temple in the north where the Shumi, followers of the light, protect the entrance." She disappeared.

When they returned to the Garden base, their friends were waiting for an update. 

"UNINFORMED" stated Fujin.

"Yeah, ya know? Keepin' us in the dark ain't cool ya know?" chimed in Raijin.

"I must say I believe we are all curious as to what is going on," Quistis said, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised, using her Instructor voice.

Squall put his head in one hand, _This isn't going to be easy._ "Alright," he said out loud, "Let's go to the **[Library]**"

They all walked over to the Library and sat in the back area. Squall began to tell them everything that happened from the moment they were that the remains of the small village to their encounter at the Centra ruins, with the others filling in the details. Besides an occasional "Dude!" from Zell and a "...ya know?" from Raijin, followed by a kick in the shins from Fujin, they were silent and attentive.

Once Squall finished there was a long silence.

"...Dude," Zell finally said.

"yeah...ya know?"

"INCONCEIVABLE"

"Uh...Squall...?" began Selphie.

"Yeah...?"

"Well, this is really confusing, for us. I mean. Hyne. and...?" she began to mumble in a high pitched squeak.

Irvine laughed, "Must be a bit too much for her."

"Are you not disturbed by this Irvine?" Quistis asked.

"Well, considerin' I wasn't all that religious in the first place, I don't really care either way. Personally, I didn't think ya'll were all that religious either."

"Well..." Quistis began, "...I never really was, but... it's still relatively disturbing. That, all this time 'God' has actually been a demon."

Irvine shrugged. "As the saying goes, only difference between a cult an' a religion is 100 years. Or in our case, 80."

Selphie seemed to have regained her composure. "...Squall...?" she began again.

"Yeah...?" he replied, doing his best to be patient.

"How do _you _four feel about this?"

"Yeah, Dude. Isn't it like weird?" chimed in Zell.

They all paused for a bit, they hadn't really thought about how they felt...

Rinoa shrugged. "I don't think we really know how we feel about it. I know it feels...comfortable, like slipping on a worn in pair of boots."

Squall raised an eyebrow at her. _Worn in pair of boots? I wouldn't exactly call it that...but..._ "I don't really have any feelings about it. After what I saw in the past, I know Meliora is right, or at least she is better than Hyne, and right now that's good enough for me."

"...You sure about that?" Irvine asked. He wasn't sure if Squall was just hiding his feelings or if her seriously didn't have them.

"Yeah," said Ellone, "It's weird. You'd think we'd be more surprised or something...but...we just...aren't."

"So you don't feel...anything about it?" Selphie asked.

They all shook their heads.

Seifer stood up. "Well, I'd love to spend all day in a frickin' religious discussion, but I believe we have some things to actually deal with, in case you all forgot." He marched out.

"He has a point," said Rinoa, watching him leave. "There's a lot that needs to be done...and I'm exhausted. Good night everyone." She got up to leave, Squall following her.

Everyone began to flow out of the room.

"Speaking of your room Rinoa...," the picture of Rinoa's destroyed room came to his mind. The crew had just finished fixing the blown out wall, but the rest of the room was still a shambles. "...Why don't you stay in my room tonight?"

"Sure," Rinoa said almost instantly, "but...um...is there a reason I should sleep in your room?"

"Yeah, well, uh..." Squall began to explain what happened as they walked toward the dorms.

"Yeah Selphie," said Irvine, putting his arm around her. "Why don't you stay in my room tonight."

"Nice try, Irvy," she said playfully poking him in the ribs.

"Hey!" he said, "I just wanna protect you! What did you think I meant?"

"Sure Irvine, Sure..." she said going to her own room.

"Darn..." he said, waving as she left.

The next day Seifer had been pacing around Garden all day. The Garden in general put him in a bad mood. He hadn't spoken to anyone, including Fujin and Raijin who had been hurt when he blew them off. _Eh, they'll get over it,_ he thought, _they always do._

"Hey Seifer!" called Rinoa from behind him. She and Squall were walking toward the cafeteria.

"Hey" he said, straightening from his hunched posture. He figured since he'd be working with Squall and Rinoa for a while now, he could at least _try _to be nice. Besides, Rinoa looked exceptionally beautiful beaming next to Squall.

They caught up and all began walking together. Rinoa was in the middle of a discussion with Squall and didn't pay too much to Seifer. As Seifer watched her hold on to Squall's arm and talk to him, he thought he began to understand what she had told him back at Obel Lake. There was a powerful feeling between them, but it wasn't love. He knew that now. What he felt for Rinoa was a sense of duty, like a brother to a sister. He had finally felt love, he thought. He was almost sure that back when he was Kaelan and he was wearing his ring...that he had loved Aidan. However, he didn't think he loved Ellone. She was nice, and pretty, almost beautiful too...but...

"Got that Seifer?" Seifer stopped his daydream to the sound of Rinoa speaking his name.

"What?" he asked.

"Ellone wants us to meet her in the **[Library]** at **[1 o'clock]**"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you," said Seifer, walking off. He didn't feel like dealing with being "nice" right then. Maybe when he got his ring back, things would change, but for now he still hated Squall.

Ellone entered the library promptly at 1. Seifer was sitting hunched over on a desk. He looked as if he had been sitting there quite some time. When he saw her enter, he stood and pulled out a chair for her.

"Thank you," Ellone said, sitting down.

"No problem," said Seifer, leaning back on his chair and putting his feet on one of the desks.

"Where are Squall and Rinoa?" Ellone asked as she looked around.

"Heh," laughed Seifer, "Probably making out somewhere-"

"-Sorry we're late," Rinoa said, panting as she ran in, Squall was right behind her.

"It's alright," Ellone said, suppressing a giggle because of Seifer's expression. "Ok," she said gathering herself, she motioned for Squall and Rinoa to sit. "Seifer, I am going to send you into your past. Tell me when you find your ring. Understand?"

"Of course," said Seifer, using his usual cocky attitude.

Seifer, however, hadn't expected going through his past to be so difficult. He saw when he failed the SeeD exam, Rinoa dancing with Squall at the SeeD ball. He had snuck in, and when he saw Rinoa and Squall had regretted it. Then he saw millions of things he had done as the Sorceress' Knight. _Damn it_, he thought, _isn't it enough I have to put up with it now?_ _Can't she send me to any time I was **happy**?_ But when he thought about it, there wasn't any time he _was_ genuinely happy. Finally he was back to his childhood. At least he didn't have to worry about feeling guilty then, all he ever did was make fun of Chicken-wuss, and who couldn't help doing that? Suddenly he was at a table. Everyone was there. Chicken-wuss with cake all over his face, Irvine watching Selphie play with a few colorful balloons, Squall was sitting diligently next to "Sis" and Quistis was handing brightly colored packages to Edea, who sat at the head of the table. _I remember this,_ thought Seifer, _It was Matron's birthday. Everyone had gotten her a gift except me. I had forgotten. Still, I **had** to get her the** best** gift._ He watched as the little version of himself handed his ring to Edea.

Ellone disconnected. "Edea has it," Seifer said right away. "However, she must be a Centra because I never had any problems as a child."

Squall raised an eyebrow at him. "Shut up, Squall!" he said with venom.

Ellone looked shocked by his anger. Seifer inhaled deeply, like it or not, he had to try and be civil with Squall. "I meant I didn't have any problems with-"

"-Until she became possessed," Squall interrupted.

Seifer looked at Squall. Of course, Seifer had figured out it was because of his ring that he had become the Sorceress' Knight, but how had _Squall _figured it out.

"That's right," pointed out Rinoa.

"How did you know about it?" asked Seifer, sullenly.

"Meliora made it pretty obvious," said Ellone, smiling. "The question is, why did you remain the Knight after Edea had transferred her power?"

Seifer shrugged. "Wait," said Rinoa, "...Seifer, what did your ring look like?"

"Two silver swords crossed," he said putting his elbows on his knees, "Why?"

"After we defeated Edea in Galbadia Garden, I remember seeing that ring in front of me before I became possessed."

"I remember it too," said Ellone, "You had dropped it in the control room at the Lunar Base," she said to Rinoa. "I had it until Raijin took it away from me after I was kidnapped, and gave it to Adel. Then after Adel had been defeated, I took it back and gave it to Uncle Laguna...meaning..."

"Laguna has it!" All four stated in unison.

As the group walked through the presidential palace again, the buildings roof and some walls had been blown out.

They approached with caution. When they entered, the lobby was a wreck. "Uncle Laguna!" Ellone cried as she ran toward his office.

Laguna was lying against the wall. He was bleeding a little, and was pretty banged up, but he'd live. "Uncle Laguna!" Ellone ran to his side, "Are you ok?!"

Laguna looked up. "Who me? Heh heh...I'll be fine, after all, I survived falling off a cliff, I think I can survive being thrown against a wall, OWOWOWOWOW!" he cried as Ellone hugged him.

"...Sorry," she blushed as she let go.

"What happened?" Squall asked, even though he could tell exactly what happened.

"That Sorceress you guys had been chasing came asking for 'the ring of the chosen one.' I tried to tell her I had no clue what she was talking about, but she just slammed me into the wall. Then she stood above me, called me a 'Centra Fool', and took that ring you gave me, Ellone. Then she left."

"Damn!" Seifer slashed his gunblade into the wall. He turned on his heels and left.

"Seifer, where are you going?" called Rinoa.

"Fujin, Raijin, let's blow this Popsicle stand!" he shouted as he marched out.

Rinoa looked at Squall, "Shouldn't we follow him?"

Squall shrugged, "He feels he needs to handle this on his own. I say we let him." Squall knew what it was like to want to deal with things on his own.

Rinoa bit her lower lip. She really didn't think _now_ was the best time to separate.

"Sorry to sound rude," began Laguna, "-because the last thing I wanna be is rude, but, am I missing something? After all, I thought you guys, didn't like that Seifer..."

Ellone sighed and began. "Well, Uncle Laguna, you know about the 'Great Hyne', right?"

Seifer began to travel north to the Mordred Plains, he decided until he knew what he was doing, he'd have to follow his instincts.

"QUESTION"

"Ya know? Seifer, why'd we finally ditch those Garden Geeks anyway, ya know?"

"Because," said Seifer, "There's something that needs to be done, and whenever something important needs to be done, they bring in the best guy to do it." Je was still very good at being cocky, despite the fact he had no idea what he was getting into.

Especially because, when they arrived at the top of the cliffs that separated the Mordred Plains, all they could see below were black cloaks.

Squall was alone in his dorm. They were heading East, the direction Nida had seen Seifer going. He had turned down Rinoa's invitation to the quad, much to both her and his surprise. He was too busy thinking about the people he would take to get the ring back. The biggest problem was Rinoa.

Hyne needed her. So taking her with the party to get the ring would be putting her, and the party, in danger. However, Hyne might be coming toward Garden right now, and if Rinoa was here, he wouldn't be here to protect her. He couldn't just send three random people to go get the ring either. He _had _ to go with. He'd been thinking in circles all day. _That's it,_ he thought, _I'll ask Rinoa, and whatever she says, goes._

He walked toward the Quad. Rinoa was on a bench next to Ellone. "Alright," he said, sitting down. "Rinoa, what do you want to do?"

"Do what?" asked Rinoa.

"Do you want to be in the battle party or not?"

"Yes," Rinoa said instantly.

"Are you sure?" Squall asked, surprised by her certainty. "It will be very-"

"-Yes I'm sure," Rinoa answered again, "I'm involved in this, and I'm going with."

"Me too," said Ellone.

"Ellone?" Squall asked. Rinoa he could understand, she was a good fighter, but Ellone...

"Squall, I'm involved in this too, besides, remember last time all four of use were together? She's afraid of us united. Therefore, now is not the time to go our separate ways." Ellone looked at Squall with the scolding look she used to use back at the orphanage.

"... ... ... ...Whatever..." he finally replied, "We better get geared up to leave." He walked off to go back to his room. _Ellone and Rinoa_, he thought, _I'm going to have my work cut out for me._

The Garden arrived at the Mordred Cliffs at sunset. Squall, Rinoa, and Ellone exited, only to be greeted by three cloaks. Squall pulled out his gunblade.

"Hey now, Squall, I_ do_ still want the chance to show you whose the better gunblade master, but now's not the time."

"Seifer?" asked Ellone.

"In the flesh," replied Seifer, removing his hood, Fujin and Raijin removed theirs also.

"PRESENTS"

"Yeah, ya know? We brought ya something, ya know?" They all pulled out black cloaks from underneath their own.

"DISGUISE"

"These guys are idiots," said Seifer, laughing at the cloaks below. "All it takes is a black cloak and you're one of them." Rinoa, Squall, and Ellone put on their cloaks. "She's keeping the ring with her, over there," Seifer pointed toward the far north side of the plains. "I don't know when she plans on using it..." Seifer's voice trailed off.

"GET MOVING" said Fujin. Squall and Seifer nodded to each other and began to climb down the cliff.

As Ellone struggled down, Squall began to regret allowing her to come. She didn't have the training for it. On the other hand neither had Rinoa when he had first met her, but she had become quite an accomplished fighter since then.

Everyone was at the bottom, except Ellone, who was still a bit of a ways away from the ground.

"Come on," Seifer called up to her.

"JUMP!" yelled Fujin, they were still quite far from the other cloaks, she Fujin didn't need to worry about being heard.

"Don't worry, I'll catch you," Seifer said.

Slowly, Ellone nodded and jumped off.

Seifer caught her effortlessly, as if she were a falling pebble instead of a falling person. "Thank you," she said quietly. Seifer couldn't see her blush under her hood.

They began to walk toward Hyne. Hyne's voice boomed. "Soon it shall be nightfall, and then it shall be the beginning of the end of all the Centra!"

The cloaks all gave a great cheer. Squall and the others did also, though they were cheering for their upcoming victory.

They slowly approached the throne. Hyne's blood red fingernails were tapping the gilded arm of her throne, impatiently awaiting nightfall. Seifer saw his ring glistening on a small pedestal.

He could no longer contain himself. The piece of himself he had always been missing was sitting right in front of him. He ran out and grabbed it.

"Seifer, no!" Squall whispered. Seifer ran back and slipped the ring on his finger. He felt whole. However, now was not the time to celebrate his victory. He had been lucky Hyne was so busy waiting for sunset she hadn't noticed. However, soon she would, so they had to run.

They were halfway through the crowd of cloaks when the sun set.

"And now..." Hyne began reaching for the ring "...WHAT?!?" she bellowed. She scanned the crowd and saw the six that were running. "Kill them!" she screamed, pointing toward the Renegade cloaks. This Command confused the cloaks, however, because all they could see was their own kind. All the cloaks began to fight one another. The team was getting away without a scratch, until a cloak tripped Rinoa and her hood flew off. The cloaks immediately recognized her as a threat and began to attack. Squall instantly covered her and began to attack the swarming cloaks as Rinoa put her hood back on. Once her hood was back on, the cloaks no longer saw her as a threat. She looked back at Squall. He had come just in time, but barely. He had been too late to block the first attack with his gunblade, resulting in a nasty gouge in his right arm. Rinoa bit her lower lip, knowing it was her fault. She hated always being the damsel in distress. She wished for once she could save herself.

Ellone gawked up at the dizzying cliffs, she had barely made it down, how was she supposed to climb up.

"Come on," Seifer said, reading her mind, "Get on my back, I'll climb fast enough for both of us," Ellone nodded and climbed on Seifer's back.

Squall was the one to reach the top last this time. By the time he was at the top, he could barely walk because of the blood loss. Rinoa did her best to help him to the Garden, until Raijin came and carried him on board.

Squall opened his eyes to see Rinoa above him. In the bright, fluorescent light of Dr.Kadowaki's office, she looked like an angel watching him from heaven. "Rinoa..." he said lifting his hand to touch her hair. Suddenly, he became aware of a shooting pain up his arm. He brought it down immediately and winced.

"Shh..." Rinoa said, putting her fingers to his lips. She smiled at him as she continued to unwrap the bandages. "We used a few Curagas after Raijin brought you on the ship," she said, answering the question his eyes were asking. "Dr.Kadowaki said you'll be fine, but you'll have another scar to add to you collection," she fingered the scar on his face, and smiled.

Squall smiled and grabbed her wrist with his good hand, then pulled her down and kissed her gently on the lips. Her lips tasted of vanilla, as they always did, and he didn't want to let her go.

"Well, I see Squall's doing fine," Dr. Kadowaki said as she entered.

Rinoa jumped up and blushed. "I was just taking off the bandage," she replied to the ground.

Dr.Kadowaki laughed, "It looks like you were doing more than that," she laughed again, "Anyway, I was just checking in, and now I'm going to go out...AND LOCKING THE DOOR," she suggestively called back as she left. She had always thought those two looked cute together.

Rinoa smiled at Dr.Kadowaki's implication, knowing there was no_ real_ reason the door needed to be locked. "We're heading toward Shumi village now, like Meliora told us," Rinoa said, looking back at Squall.

"How's everyone else?" Squall asked. He hadn't remembered a lot from what happened.

"Everyone's fine-"

"-and Seifer?"

Rinoa laughed, "I can't say I notice any difference in him with or withour his ring, but at least we can enter the temple now-"

"-and you?"

Rinoa looked into his eyes then looked away. "I'm fine, thanks to you. You know, that gouge should be on my arm not yours..." Rinoa still felt really guilty and angry with herself.

The thought of Rinoa bleeding made Squall cringe, "I'm used to it," he replied with a shrug, "Besides, chicks dig scars, right?"

"Oh, definitely," replied Rinoa, running her fingers through his hair, something she always loved to do.

Squall put his left arm around her waist and drew her closer.

Maybe having the door locked wasn't such a bad idea after all.

****

Next: Chapter 3: The Final Confrontation.


	3. Chapter Three: The Final Confrontation

Chapter Three:

The Final Confrontation

Seifer and Ellone were waiting at the Garden entrance. Squall and Rinoa were already fifteen minutes late when they arrived from Dr.Kadowaki's office.

_As always..._ thought Seifer. 

Squall's arm was still very sore from the injury, but other than forcing Squall to use his gunblade with his weaker left hand, it didn't cause him any trouble.

"Took you two long enough..." said Seifer, tapping his foot.

Squall gave his famous response of "...Whatever..."

"Heh. She left you speechless then, eh?" Seifer laughed. Squall sensed something about Seifer, and Squall couldn't tell if Seifer was laughing _at_ him or _with_ him.

"Let's go," Squall said, putting the thought out of his mind, and exiting the Garden.

They entered the cricket-shaped dome of the Shumi Village. Squall waved to the guardians of the Ultima draw point, which was still empty, as they entered the elevator.

"Please have a seat," an electronic voice said.

They all sat in silence. No one _ever_ spoke on the elevator.

"So how long does this ta-?" Seifer began.

Only to be interrupted by, "-Please exit through the door."

_What **else** would we exit through?_ Seifer thought.

As they walked past the hotel, Rinoa could hear "Eyes On Me" drifting from the doorway. It automatically made Rinoa think of her mom, which made her finger the necklace....how had her mom ended up getting it? Had she been friends with Julia in another life? Maybe it just got passed around until it ended up with Julia...

She was woken up from her thoughts when a voice called, "Hello," from a nearby table.

"Hello Specialist," Rinoa said with a wave of her fingers as she walked over.

"Did Squall hear? The statue of Laguna is finished. Artisan, Sculptor, and Attendant finished it a few days after you left. Specialist thinks it looks amazing. Specialist thinks Squall should see it.

"We will," said Squall, "but first we need to talk with Elder."

"Elder is in Elder's house as always," said Specialist, "Is something wrong?"

"No," Squall said simply. There was no point in worrying the Shumis when they couldn't do anything about the world outside.

They walked past the Guardian Moomba, even though he did no recognize Seifer and Ellone, he let them pass with Squall.

"Elder..." Squall said, entering the room, surrounded by giant fish tanks

"Greetings, Squall," Elder said from his chair.

"We've come to ask for something..." Squall began.

"What is it? You know that we will always try to help."

"We need access to the Sacred Temple of the Centra."

Elder's eyes bulged a little, "Attendant, please go visit the statue with Sculptor," he said.

"But Elder-"

"-Now," Elder insisted calmly.

Attendant bowed his head and left.

"So then it is true, Hyne is back among us."

Squall nodded.

"I am sorry to ask this of you, but I need a password in order to let you pass..."

_Password?_ thought Squall, _Meliora didn't say anything about a-_

"Guthre, Adowa, Kelekea," Ellone crossed her fingers, hoping it was right.

Elder paused, "I...-That is a language from long ago...it is older than the Centra...I...don't know what it means..."

Ellone looked down and paused, trying to think of everything that had happened while she was Aidan. Softly, she whispered, "...My...Blue...Heaven...?"

"What?" asked Elder.

She looked up, eyes alight. "My Blue Heaven," she said with slightly more confidence.

Elder nodded, "Follow me."

As Elder led them our of his residence, Rinoa leaned over to Ellone, "How did you know that?"

Ellone shrugged, "It was on a sign in front of the Centra ruins. I guess I was just lucky..." she knew it felt like more than just luck.

Rinoa shrugged back. It had sounded like more than just luck, but she wasn't going to press Ellone.

Elder stopped in front of the house next to the hotel. Every time Squall had ever tried to enter it, it had always been locked. He put his palm to the door. Silently, it swung open.

Elder motioned for them to enter. "I cannot follow you here," he said solemnly. "May the Gods be with you," he walked off.

Slowly, they all entered the black room. The door closed behind them. In the pitch dark, their four rings gave off a faint glow.

They all continued to walk forward. Suddenly, the ground began to move beneath them. Instinctively, Squall pulled Rinoa close to him. They seemed to fall for hours in the dark, waiting and waiting and nobody knew for what. It was driving Seifer insane. He tried to pace, but the floor was moving so fast he lurched forward. Ellone grabbed him and pulled him straight.

Seifer spent a while examining the black area where Ellone's face should have been. How had she been able to catch him?

"...I saw your ring..." she whispered gently, answering his thought.

"...Thanks..." he said. He didn't even really seem to mind that Ellone's hand was still on his arm.

Finally, the "elevator" slowed. Ellone, startled, released Seifer's arm and walked to the other side of the "elevator."

When the doors opened none of them could believe their eyes. They were in a huge, underground......palace.

It was dazzling white. It, also, had been made entirely of marble which seemed to radiate light. It was like stepping into the sun. Candles and plants hung from the ceiling, and little fountains had a network of water circulating around the temple.

They all walked to the candle filled altar. There was a large wall above in front of it, made out of wood. Carved into it was a detailed map of the planet. There were other carvings at the North, south, east, and west of the map... little knobs with the Runes of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. As the four kneeled before it, their rings began to glow. Slowly, they rose into the air, Rinoa's with her silver necklace trailing behind it. They then attached themselves to the four knobs.

The figure of Meliora appeared before them

"I see you retrieved Seifer's ring," she began.

They nodded.

"Then let us begin. I shall now give to you the tools you will need to defeat Hyne. We shall start with the North."

A glowing white orb descended in front of Ellone.

"This," continued Meliora, "is the sacred spell of Healing and Support, called 'Healing of Earth.' You can use it on yourself and your allies in one turn. It casts Regen, Aura, Haste, Shell, Protect, Reflect, Double, Triple, restores all HP and cures all status ailments." Ellone stared at it in awe as it hovered before her. "Take it, Ellone." Slowly, Ellone grabbed it and drew 100 spells from it. She put the orb in her pocket.

"Next, the east. Seifer, you shall command the Sacred GF, Zephyr. He knows all junctions and abilities, and if you are junctioned to him, Seifer, it also junctions all your allies." A small golden beast jumped down from the Ceiling. He didn't _look_ like an all-powerful GF. He looked more like a distant cousin of Carbuncle. None the less, Seifer junctioned him, and the whole party felt a trillion times stronger.

"To the South, The Sacred Blade Of Light." A gunblade appeared before Squall. It looked similar to Lionheart, but it glowed white instead of blue.

Squall, surprisingly, shook his head. "Give this to Seifer," he said, "Meliora, I can't use this weapon."

"Why not?" Meliora asked, amused.

Squall motioned to his arm.

"Come here." Slowly he walked to her. "Stay still," she commanded.

As she touched his arm, Squall could feel the muscle and skin repairing itself. It felt strange, like fire and ice was running through his blood. He bit his tongue to avoid squirming.

"There," Meliora said, releasing him. "Now take up the blade." It was feather light. Squall lifted it easily into his hand. "It will allow you to use the limit break, "Sacred Fire'. It is the only limit break that inflicts more than 9999 at a time. The attack of sacred Fire is similar to Lionheart, however, instead of doing 9999 damage everytime it does 999999 with every strike."

Meliora smiled at their gazes of awe, "After all," she said, "You, _are_ fighting a God. You must use this with caution Squall. Just attacking once with Sacred Fire will take a lot out of you. Use it only on Hyne. Despite its strength, no matter how many times you attack Hyne with Sacred Fire, you can never kill her."

"-But then how-?" began Rinoa

"With the powers of the West. Rinoa, you have the sacred item, 'Sealing Space'," a white globe descended. "Once Hyne is weak enough, throw this high into the air and say 'Return all to where it belongs' it will send Hyne back to the immortal realm. Once Hyne is gone, her followers will be harmless."

Rinoa nodded and grasped the globe in her palms.

"Then it is done. Everything else is up to you," Meliora disappeared, and the rings left the notches on the wall and returned to their owners.

They all left in silence, looking upon their new weapons with profound awe and wonder. The weighty silence was destroyed, however, when they entered Garden.

"Dude, Squall! You sure took long enough!" Zell called running up to them.

Squall raised an eyebrow. Rinoa was the first to speak, "Well, how long did you _expect_ it to take?"

"Uh...heh heh...I...dunno, I guess. But-" the Garden began to move.

"We're leaving already?" asked Ellone.

"That's what I came here to tell you. We just got a report from Esthar. There was a disturbance right off the Esthar Ocean Base. The Place was totaled by monsters and...men in black cloaks. Then they all headed underwater, which means-"

"-Lunatic Pandora," said Squall. After the battle with Ultimecia, Esthar and Garden worked together to put Lunatic Pandora back into the ocean. Garden also helped to establish the nearby military base to prevent it from rising again. Apparently, it hadn't been enough.

"Why would she want to go there though?" Rinoa asked.

"Most likely to retrieve some of her power," said Quistis as she walked toward them.

"Wha-?" asked Zell. Trust Quistis to know more about the situation than those involved.

"Well," Quistis continued, "from what we know, Hyne needs her power back. She already got Adel's and Ultimecia's power, but she still needs Rinoa, correct?"

Rinoa nodded slightly, "Right."

"However, now that you four are together, AND you all have your rings, she's a lot more wary about getting too close to Rinoa. Instead, she's trying to find an alternate route to getting to full power."

"Alright," said Squall. He wasn't sure what exactly Quistis was getting at, nor was anyone else.

"Now, Hyne was the cause of the first Lunar Cry, 80 years ago, and Lunatic Pandora was created to mimic that event, which it did do successfully."

Zell crossed his arms. This sounded too much like a class lecture to him. "Dude, Quistis! We're going to _be_ at Lunatic Pandora by the time you finish! Get to the point!"

Quistis rolled her eyes. "Relax Zell. All I'm saying is that Lunatic Pandora is an alternative form of Hyne's magic. So, in order to avoid a confrontation with the four of you, she is trying to convert Lunatic Pandora's Power to her own."

"Say what!?" Zell asked.

Quistis rolled her eyes again, "Do _you_ four understand it?"

They all nodded. "Seems simple enough," said Rinoa.

"Yeah," said Seifer, "Chicken-Wuss just doesn't get it cause his brain is smaller than his beak."

"SHUT UP SEIFER!" Zell yelled.

"Man," Seifer replied, "You must be a _real_ wuss if you get this worked up about a stupid chicken-wuss comment."

"Why I'll-" Zell began to prepare for a fight.

"-He has a point Zell," interrupted Quistis.

Zell stopped. "Wh-wh-WHAT!?!?"

"He has a point. You're _far _ to sensitive." Quistis said as she walked off. "I'll go tell the others to get ready to leave."

"Okay," said Rinoa.

"Hey! Quistis! Wait up! You didn't mean what you said about-?!" Zell called as he ran after her.

The Garden docked at the remnants of the military base.

Everyone was gathered outside Garden. Laguna had sent out the order to raise Lunatic Pandora. It was already on it's way to Tear's Point. Esthar was prepared for the worst.

Garden would be remaining at the military base to help with the repairs. As for Squall's team, the Ragnarok was waiting for them at the loading dock. When Selphie saw it her eyes lit up. "Woo hoo!" she called as she ran onboard. Irvine ran after her.

Selphie practically tumbled into the pilots seat.

"Like coming home after a long trip, eh?" Irvine asked leaning on the back of hte chair.

"Yuppers!" said Selphie giggling.

Squall and the others finally arrived, "Guess there's no need to ask you where we're going, eh Squall?" Squall nodded.

"WOO HOO! Let's go kick some Immortal Butt!" Selphie said as she took off.

They soon arrived at Tear's Point. They entered through the hole that still remained from their last forced entry of Lunatic Pandora.

The hall was dead quiet. "So," Irvine said, a little more quietly, "What're we doing?"

"Yeah, ya know? What do you want us to do, ya know?" asked Raijin.

"Rinoa, Ellone, Seifer, and I will be going to where Adel's fallen seal is. Selphie, Irvine, and Zell, go down into the caverns. If you find _anything_ come fin us _immediately_, got it?"

"Aye, Aye Commander!" Selphie said with a salute. Squall had finally begun to get used to her positive outlook even in the most serious of situations.

"Quistis, Fujin, Raijin," Fujin and Raijin got all pumped up, "You'll be watching the Ragnarok. Quistis, be ready to take off any second."

"Is that ok with _you_ Selphie, pilot extraordinaire?" Quistis asked.

"Hee hee, Sure!" was her perky reply.

"Squall, ya know? Give us a _real_ job, ya know?"

"BORING"

Squall eyed them for a minute as if actually considering their request. "Quistis," he finally said, "keep an eye on them."

Squall's and Selphie's teams ran off.

"NOT FUNNY" Fujin yelled after them as she sat down on some rubble. Quistis covered her mouth, suppressing a giggle.

Squall's team began walking up the canon, gun-arm toward Adel's seal. Seifer recognized it all too well. _What do they want from me? _Seifer thought, not really knowing who "they" were, _Why do they have to keep rubbing it in my face?!_ Seifer had hoped that when he got his ring back, he wouldn't feel quite so guilty anymore. That wasn't the case. Though he had had a change of heart about _some_ things, he still felt embarrassed and angry about what had happened.

Finally they arrived at the bridge to the room where the Seal had fallen. As they approached they saw Hyne inside the broken Seal. Squall thought it odd that she would be here without any monsters or minions.

Ellone cast Healing Earth on the party, as they got closer. Squall got ready to use Sacred Fire. Suddenly, Hyne looked up from what she was doing. She had seen them.

The ground and walls began to shake as Hyne flew past them. She was gone in a blur. As the ceiling and walls began to fall, Squall instinctively covered Rinoa. Seifer hit the ground. Ellone was still standing, watching everything fall around her.

"Get down!" Seifer yelled. Ellone stood there. "Dammit Ellone! he said as he pulled her down, "I said _get down!_" Ellone hit the ground as the room collapsed.

"Is everyone ok?" Squall asked as he pulled himself and Rinoa out of the rubble.

"I think so," said Ellone, brushing herself off.

"Yeah," said Seifer, rubbing his head, "but I could sure use a couple of curaga's right about now."

"Come here," said Ellone. She cast Curaga on the whole party.

Once they were healed, they walked toward the bridge. It seemed stable enough. Still, none of them could be sure if the bridge's integrity had been damaged.

"I'll go," Squall said, taking the first step.

"No, Squall, I'm going," Seifer said. Squall was a bit shocked by Seifer's care. Usually, he'd be happy to see Squall fall to his doom. "After all," Seifer continued, "Can't let you be a glory hog now, can I?"

Seifer walked across effortlessly, "-Ellone, you next,"Rinoa said before Squall got a chance to tell her to go herself.

Once Ellone was across, "Now-" They both said looking at each other.

"But-" Rinoa began.

"-Hey! Hurry up you two! Now is not the time for your little romantic heroics!" Seifer yelled.

"Fine I'm going," Rinoa said, knowing that this was a battle that she wouldn't win without some good persuasive time. As Rinoa reached the other side Squall began to walk across. 

As he reached the middle of the bridge, it began to groan even more. "Squall!" Rinoa screamed. Squall began to run as the ground began to crack behind him. Rinoa went to run to him, but was stopped by Seifer.

"Are you stupid?" he asked as he held her back. "Squall! Hurry up!" 

But it was too late, Squall jumped as the ground below him fell, but he couldn't make it.

"SQUAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!" Rinoa screamed as he fell, suddenly she plunged after him before Seifer could stop her.

"No," gasped Ellone.

As Rinoa felt the wind rushing past her face she reached out for Squall. As Squall grabbed her, he shook his head, "Rinoa, no!" fear filled his eyes as he realized they would _both_ be plummeting into the ground.

Suddenly, wings emerged from Rinoa's back as she used her angel wing limit break. With Squall tightly in her arms, she fought gravity's pull and flew them to the top. As she reached solid ground her wings retreated and both she and Squall collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.

Squall grabbed Rinoa by both shoulders. "Don't you _ever_ do that again!"

"Me?!?" What about you?" Rinoa objected.

"I'm serious, Rinoa."

"Tch! Don't I even get a 'thank you'?"

Squall embraced her tightly, "Thank you," he whispered quietly into her ear.

Seifer tapped his foot. "Well, you know these wonderful gushy kissy-face scenes are great, but don't we have an immortal to follow?"

They both stood up and the four of them ran back toward the Ragnarok.

"There they are!" cried Selphie as she ran toward them. "Are you guys ok? We saw Hyne and-"

"-We'll live," said Squall, "Come on. We have to follow Hyne before the trail gets cold."

They all boarded the Ragnarok. Quistis took off the second everyone was on board. "Alright," she said. "From what I could tell, she was heading back toward the Mordred plains." She put the Ragnarok in high gear. They landed in Mordred Plains in a matter of minutes.

"Damn," said Squall as they exited to reveal a barren plain.

"What should we do now?" Rinoa asked.

"She was definitely here recently," Seifer said, pointing to torches that were still lit, "or at least some of her minions were."

"We'll search for clues," Squall said. "Rinoa and I will go Southeast, Selphie and Irvine Northwest, Quistis and Zell Northeast, and Seifer and Ellone Southwest."

"What about us, ya know?"

"Stay and watch the ship."

"AWWWW, come on! Ya know?!?"

"UNFAIR TREATMENT"

"Come one guys," said Seifer, "You're acting worse than Chicken wuss, here," Zell was about to talk, but Quistis hushed him.

"But-ya kno-?"

Fujin kicked him in the shins. "APOLOGIES"

"You enjoy doing that to them, don't you?" Rinoa asked Squall as they walked toward the canyon wall.

Squall shrugged a little, "after having to fight them about three times, it is nice to get a little payback. Besides, I need to put people I trust on the more important missions.

"I know," said Rinoa, "But don't forget how that helped us out Lunatic Pandora when we went to get Ellone that first time. If you can trust Seifer, you can trust them..."

"I know," said Squall. He looked over at Rinoa. She was doing a better job at looking for clues than he was. She was actually looking at the ground. Squall wondered if she knew he was looking at her.

She saved him. Not just today, and not just back when he was trapped in time compression, but in a million more ways than he could even count. It was the strangest feeling to him...That he would do anything to protect her, and yet, he knew she'd do the same.

Squall had been used to risking his life to protect things. It was how he had been raised. And yet, he had never had the security of knowing someone was _capable_ of saving him.

_Rinoa..._ he thought as he fingered the small black box in his pocket. Maybe he would never find the right time. Maybe _now_ was the best time...

There were gunshots coming from the Northwest.

Rinoa looked up, startled. "Do you think Selphie and Irvine are in trouble?"

"Only one way to find out," Squall said running in the direction of the gunshots.

As Squall and Rinoa got closer, they could see everyone else running toward the canyon wall. Selphie was nowhere to be seen.

"What's wrong?" Squall asked.

"Where's Selphie?" asked Rinoa.

Irvine pointed to a large gap in the canyon. "She found something."

"Dude!" said Zell, "That was _not cool!_ You had us worried!"

"INEFFECTIVE"

"Actually, I think it worked very well, thank you," said Irvine with a tip of his hat, "I got ya'll to come running here instead of havin' me chase after all of you."

There was a long silence. Quistis best summed up all their feelings, ".........Don't do that again."

"Alright, Alright, I hear ya."

"Hey guys!" Selphie called, "Are you coming or what?"

"Yeah, yeah, they're coming," said Irvine following her.

As they followed Irvine, they realized Selphie had found a secluded mountain pass. It made sense that Selphie had found it. After all, she was the queen of finding hidden passages.

Squall looked the path over...there were more fallen torches and some blood from some dead Mesmerizes. It looked as if Hyne had traveled this way.

"Well? Well?" she asked everyone, jumping up and down. "Do you recognize it?"

"Yeah," replied Squall as he began to walk up the path, "This is where they filmed that movie Laguna was in, while he was looking for Ellone."

Selphie's shoulders dropped. "Awww! Squall! Of course _you'd_ know it. It's just like you to ruin my fun, Squall!"

Squall raised an eyebrow. "...Whatever Selphie..."

Selphie stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well," said Irvine sarcastically, "the King of one-word rhetoric said more than one word in reply! I hafta tell ya the world's turnin' upside down!"

Squall arrived at the top of the path, Rinoa close behind, laughing at the group's dialog. She stopped laughing when she saw Squall, looking over the canyon, and dead serious.

"Squall?" she asked as she approached him. "Squall what's-? Oh my God," she said as she saw the vista from the top.

Trabia crater was in full view, or at least it would have been is it hadn't been covered with monsters, minions, and most importantly, Hyne. The minions had seemed to have multiplied thrice times since their last encounter.

"...I know," Squall said, not taking his gaze away from Hyne.

Rinoa sat down, "so...what will we do?"

"-Well, it sure is quiet up here-" Quistis began as she climbed up. "-What's wrong?" Rinoa pointed toward the crater. "...The crater?" she asked, after she had seen it for herself. "Why would she be at Trabia Crater?"

Squall replied almost automatically. "It was a holy ground to the cult of Hyne."

"What?" asked Quistis.

"During the days of the Centra," Rinoa began, "this was an extraordinarily holy ground. Many believed that this is where they had summoned Hyne." Both Rinoa and Squall looked like they were remembering something from a dream.

"-Yo!" called Zell as he reached the top. He has gone ahead to avoid being called "Chicken-wuss" another time. Now that Zell was trying to be "Less Sensitive" and "more mature" Seifer seemed to bug him even more. How did Squall put up with him anyway? "What are you guys looking at?" he asked as he approached the cliff. "Hey! I know that place! That was where the Garden sensors were freakin' out and everything!"

"Right," said Squall, "The cult of Hyne shielded it from the Centra, and, since our Garden was a Centra shelter built by the Centra, it can't go through the shields."

"Wait..." said Zell, "If it's shielded from Centra, how are we all supposed to bust through?"

"...I don't know," said Squall.

"The air is heavy up here..." said Selphie as she arrived with the others.

"What's goin' on?" Irvine asked.

When they all saw the crater, the first to speak was Selphie. "Should I go get the Ragnarok?"

Squall shook his head, "I don't think it would make a difference. The Ragnarok has similar technology to the Centra."

"Oh." There was another long silence as everyone waited for someone else to speak.

"Dammit!" Seifer finally said, "You all take too long to take _action_! Come on guys, lets go!" Fujin and Raijin followed him as Seifer walked towards the crater.

Squall was following Seifer too.

"Wait!" said Ellone, as everyone began to leave, he hands were clasped at her chest. Everyone turned. "What are we going to _do_?"

Squall shrugged, "We'll find out when we get there."

This didn't put Ellone's worries at ease, still, she followed reluctantly.

When they arrived near the shield, they took cover by some trees. From what they could tell, the monsters could move back and forth through the shield, which meant the team couldn't just run up for a full frontal attack on the shield.

Suddenly Zephyr appeared.

"Oh! He's so cute!" Selphie exclaimed.

"Why did you summon him?" Squall asked Seifer.

"...I didn't," said Seifer, glaring at the beast. It ignored him and jumped onto Selphie's shoulder, who was cuddling him excessively. _Why did I get stuck with such a stupid GF anyway?_

Suddenly Zephyr Seifer in the eye. It had heard him. _...Because I chose you_, the little creature had an amazingly low, whispery voice, like a howling wind, only Seifer could hear it.

_Why?_ Seifer thought to it.

_Because you've always been kind to me._

Seifer was taken aback a bit. He had vague memories from his other past lives, but he didn't sense any familiarity with this creature. _Then help us_, Seifer told it plainly.

Zephyr nodded and jumped off Selphie's shoulder. It began to glow bright gold. The radiance was amazing. Most of the group had to look away. Seifer wouldn't. Finally, out of the light emerged a Golden Dragon with four wings.

"DRAGON WIND!" Seifer shouted as Zephyr barreled toward the shield. He burst through the shield, shattering it into a thousand pieces. He then flew high into the air, flipped, and turned into his regular form, returning to Seifer.

_Thanks_, Seifer said. Zephyr nodded and disappeared.

Of course, now Hyne new where they were. First came the wave of monsters. Quickly, Ellone cast Healing Earth on everyone. With all their new power, everyone made short work of the beasts. The cloaks were another story.

"Squall!" said Rinoa, after having just finished off a cloak. "Charge up Sacred Fire. I'll cover your back."

Squall nodded. If anyone were going to watch his back, he was glad it was Rinoa. He began to feel his sword pulse in his hands. "Sacred Fire!" Squall shouted as he leaped over the battle to Hyne. He attacked her again and again.

When Hyne came crashing to the ground, covered in flames, her form began to shift in and out. Swirling colors and shapes, not taking any form.

When Squall returned to the ground, he was too dizzy to even stand. The power of Sacred Fire had totally overwhelmed him. Suddenly, Squall was surrounded by cloaks. He knew he had to fight them, but it was the hardest thing he had ever done.

Rinoa saw from afar, she wanted to use Wishing Star, but she was too worried she might hit Squall to try it. She began running toward him, watching as the cloaks surrounded him the way wolves would surround a sick deer.

Squall could feel his legs give away under him, and he soon hit the ground.

"Hey!" yelled Seifer as he began to attack the cloaks, they all fell quickly. Seifer offered Squall his hand. "Now aren't you lucky _I_ was here to watch your back?"

Squall took his hand, "...Thanks."

"Squall! Are you-?" Rinoa asked running up to them.

"-He'll be fine," Seifer interjected, "Now use that Sealing Space thing you got already!"

Rinoa took it out and began to concentrate. She began to rise up in the air.

"Ellone!" she heard Seifer's voice call, "We could use a Healing Earth over here."

Suddenly, Rinoa remembered she was supposed to throw it. Quickly, she threw it up and whispered, "Return all to where it belongs."

Hyne was whisked up into the air. It was obvious she was fighting the power of The Sealing Space as delicate, tentacle like strands reached toward the earth. "You're all fools!" she shouted, "I've already left my Seed on you planet, and as long as it lives, I will one day be able to return!"

"What are you talking about!?!" Squall called after her. But it was too late. The portal exploded in a flash of white light, followed by a thunderous rumble.

Rinoa slowly descended back toward the ground. Squall was there, waiting for her.

As Squall looked up at Rinoa, he couldn't stand it any longer. He didn't care that they had just defeated a God, or that they still had work to deal with. Right then all he knew was that if that little black box stayed in his pocket a moment longer it was going to eat right through him.

As Rinoa approached the ground, Squall held her in his arms. For a while she just leaned against his chest and listened to his heavy breathing.

Suddenly, he grabbed her a little tighter and pulled away. Startled, she looked up at him.

"Rinoa..." he said, pulling something out of his pocket, "Marry Me." He pulled her close to him again.

Rinoa looked up at him, still stunned. Out of all the people she knew, Squall had to have the _worst_ timing of anyone. After all, he waited to tell her about his feelings for her while she was in a _coma_, had _finally_ had the realization he wasn't alone right before he was trapped in a time warp. And _NOW_ he was proposing to her after they had just fought the battle of their lives!

And she loved him for it.

In reply, she jumped up into his arms and kissed him and held on tight. This moment would last forever.

Rinoa released when she heard the hoots and hollers from their comrades. They continued to applaud as Squall slipped the diamond ring on her finger.

The group had quite a fun time teasing them on the way back to the Ragnarok.

"Heh heh," laughed Zell, "I didn't think you'd _ever_ do it, Dude!"

"Yeah," said Irvine, "Besides, didn't figure, _you'd_ go in for the ol' ball and chain. Why limit yourself to one girl? Ouch!" He said as Selphie kicked him. "Are you takin' lessons from Fujin? Damn!"

Selphie giggled, "Seriously though! Can I be the wedding planner? PLEEEEEEASE?!" She jumped up and down.

"I don't think you'll be able to handle that all by yourself, Selphie," the reasonable voice of Quistis chimed in.

"AWW!" Selphie's shoulders sagged. "Oh! But _you_ can help me!" She began jumping again.

"Oh! um...welll..."

"PLEEEEEEASE!? You're _so_ good at Math and stuff, it would be great!" Quistis blushed a little. "PLEEEEEEASE?!?!?!?!?"

"Oh alright," Quistis finally said, "but we'll have to be organized-"

"-Oh! There's so much! I think that there should be white roses everywhere! Oh! _AND _on the cake! Which should be 15 layers! And Chocolate! With White Frosting! AND-"

Quistis rolled her eyes. How did she every manage to get into this mess.

"Rinoa, what color scheme do you want for the dresses?" Ellone asked.

"-YELLOW!" Selphie exclaimed.

"HIDEOUS!" yelled Fujin

"Ya know? Where's it gonna be, ya know?" asked Raijin.

"-More importantly," said Seifer, "When is it going to be?"

Squall and Rinoa, who had said nothing through this, continued to not say a word, leaving the others to plan amongst themselves.

****

Next: Chapter Four: Hyne's SeeD


	4. Chapter Four: Hyne's SeeD

****

Chapter 4:

Hyne's SeeD

"So, dude, if its a SeeD, maybe she put it in Garden, right?" asked Zell.

"Doubtful," Squall replied, "We watched her the whole time she was here. She wasn't here long enough to do anything other than destroy."

Seifer was glad to know Squall and hadn't lost his head in the process of getting married. At least Squall and Rinoa had their priorities straight. Right now everyone was seated in the library, discussing where they could find the Seed Hyne had mentioned.. Everybody except for Selphie, Quistis, and Irvine.

Ever since Squall and Rinoa told Selphie and Quistis that the wedding would be in one week, they had been running around trying to get everything done in time.

Selphie and Quistis had begged and pleaded Squall and Rinoa for more time, saying they were being "Mean!" (from Selphie) and "Not very reasonable" (from Quistis), but Seifer could see where they were coming from. Use this semi-quasi-peace-like time for the wedding, or else who knew that else would happen next and how long they would have to wait to get married.

As for Irvine, despite the way he joked with Squall about being tied down, Selphie had him totally whipped. He had spent the past week carrying flowers and hanging decorations and running mindless errands.

"Well," said Zell, "Maybe it's not _this_ Garden. What about Galbadia, Trabia, or maybe even the construction site of the New Esthar Garden?"

"There weren't any reports from any of them about Hyne."

"Well, where _has_ she been?" asked Seifer.

"The Almaj mountains, Esthar, Mordred Plains, Lunatic Pandora, and the Trabia Crater."

"So let's search there," said Ellone.

Squall shook his head. "It's not that easy. We don't know where Hyne was before she attacked Garden.

"I still say its at a Garden," said Zell, "What about Trabia? If she was at Trabia Crater, maybe-"

"-Oh, give it up, Chicken-wuss!"

Zell's face flared up, but he didn't say anything. Squall smirked subtley, looked like Quistis had more influence over Zell than he thought. "I was just saying," Zell continued, "that if she didn't want anyone to find the seed, she _probably_ wouldn't let anyone know she was around."

"He's right," said Rinoa, "That thing could be _anywhere_."

There was a heavy silence.

"Rinoa! Rinoa!" Selphie bounded in the door.

"What?"

"Come on! We need you!"

"For what?"

"For the wedding dress!" Selphie said between her teeth.

"We're just a _little_ busy here," Seifer said.

Selphie stuck her tongue out at him. "Rinoa!" she whined, "You promised!"

Rinoa rolled her eyes.

"Go on Rinoa," Squall said, "We're not getting anywhere here."

"Alright," Rinoa said, standing up, "Tell me the minute we figure something out."

They Nodded.

"Come On!" Selphie said, pulling Rinoa out the door.

"So," Quistis asked Rinoa as they walked toward the dorms, "Any leads?"

Rinoa sighed and shrugged her shoulders, "No. We're worse off than when we started. We just don't know where to look for it, and we don't have enough people or time to just search all over the planet."

"What about SeeDs? Here we are with a Garden filled with some of the best SeeDs on the planet. If we divide them into teams, and get help from the other Gardens, surely we could cover everywhere?"

"True. However, we don't know what this seed is. For all we know it is just as powerful as Hyne. Can we _really_ be comfortable sending just three SeeDs?"

"Oh, you're right."

"What about Laguna?" Selphie asked, "I bet he, Kiros, and Ward would help."

"Maybe," Rinoa replied, turning around, "I'll go tell Squall-"

"Oh no you don't!" Selphie grabbed Rinoa's vest. "Irvine?" Selphie asked sweetly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going," Irvine said, waving as he walked off.

"Alright," Selphie gently places a garment bag in Rinoa's hands.

Rinoa stepped into her and Squall's room. She has been sharing a room with Squall ever since she returned to Garden, and now for her to get her own room for a week would have been pointless.

She smiled at the picture of her and Squall on his desk. Selphie had caught them by surprise after her camcorder batteries ran out. Selphie had been really flash happy that night....

"Selphie!" Rinoa had yelled as she covered her eyes from the flashing lights.

"Woo Hoo! You're on candid camera!"

"Ever heard of asking permission?"

"Now where's the fun in that?"

"Hey there, miss, have I mentioned you look lovely tonigh-" Irvine was talking to a girl nearby.

"Irvine!" Selphie ran over to him, leaving Rinoa and Squall alone on the balcony again.

"So...?" Rinoa asked.

"...What?" Squall replied.

"You had started saying something before we were attacked by 'candid camera'."

'Oh! Right..." Squall looked out over the ocean.

Rinoa waited for quite some time, "...well?"

"I talked to Cid."

"What did he say?"

"I still have to be Garden Commander," he slouched onto the railing.

"What's so bad about that?" Rinoa asked, jumping to sit on the rail, "You'll get to stay where the action is. With all your friends..." she began to kick her legs.

Squall touched her hand, "..._all_ of them?"

Rinoa looked into his eyes. She didn't know what to tell to those big blue gray eyes. "...I'm not a SeeD, Squall. I don't think I'd fit in well..."

"Don't give me that," Squall said looking up at the sky, "You know just as well as I do that you're one of the best fighters in this Garden."

"...Do you _really_ think that?"

Squall nodded.

"That's not what you would have said a while ago."

Squall shrugged, doing his best to stay aloof as always. Just the thought that he would be apart from Rinoa had brought all his defenses up, and yet had torn them all down at the same time. "A lot has changed since then." He paused, looking up at the sky a little longer. Then he grabbed her hand and looked her intently in the eyes, the tears he had been blinking back were now obvious. "Rinoa, please......Don't leave me..."

As Rinoa saw his tears, she could feel her own tears running down her face. She embraced him tightly. "I'll never leave you, Squall. Ever."

From that moment on Rinoa knew that what she and Squall had was true love. Finally they were going to be married.

Rinoa found that in her reminiscing a few teardrops had escaped her eyes. She quickly brushed them away. She still had the wedding dress clutched against her body.

There was a knocking at the door. "Rinoa! Aren't you ready yet? You take _forever!_" Selphie called.

"One more minute!" Rinoa called back, quickly slipping into the dress.

"Oh!" Selphie said bursting in, "It looks _so_ beautiful!"

Like Selphie had wanted, they were doing a white rose motif, which was evident in the white cloth roses that adorned the dress.

"Let me just get some measurements for the train..." said Quistis bending over with her tape measure.

"Oh yeah! You still need a color for the bridesmaid dresses..." Selphie began.

"Might I recommend pink?" Quistis said from the ground.

"No! Yellow!"

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "How about everyone wears whatever color they want?"

They both looked at her, appalled, "But...then it wouldn't be pretty!" objected Selphie.

" I must say it would look rather disorganized."

"Well," said Rinoa, "If you two don't agree on something that's what we'll _have_ to do."

"Alright," Selphie shrugged.

"We'll try to think of _something_," said Quistis.

"Rinoa, we-" Squall began to push the door open.

"-NOOOOOOO!" Selphie yelled running to cover his eyes.

"What? What?" Squall asked blinded as Selphie tried to push him out.

"You can't see the Bride in her gown until the _wedding_!"

"But-"

"No! Out!"

Rinoa laughed, "I'll be out in a minute, Squall. Now if you'll _all_ excuse me?"

They all left. "So, Squall, what is it?" Quistis asked.

"We're going to start searching," Squall replied, "if we keep trying to figure out where it is we're just wasting time we could spend looking for it."

"So, what's the plan?" Rinoa said emerging from the room.

"We're starting by searching places we _know_ she's been. In addition, we're going to keep to the same general area, so that if there _is_ a fight, we can join forces as quickly as possible. Which remind me, you'll both need these," he handed both Quistis and Selphie a walkie talkie, each, "Dr. Odine made them. You can communicate over any distance."

"So, where are we all going?"

"Rinoa, you and I will be searching Lunatic Pandora. Quistis and Zell are searching Trabia Garden-"

"-But why-?" asked Quistis.

Squall shrugged, "Zell is adamant that if it's a SeeD she would plant it in a Garden."

Quistis raised an eyebrow.

"I know, I know, but just look anyway, alright?"

Quistis nodded, it would figure she would be stuck going to the stupidest place with Zell. Not that she disliked Zell, actually it was quite the opposite. After having been paired up on so many missions they had become pretty good friends. Zell's only problem was sometimes Quistis needed to knock the sense into him, or else he would rely entirely on feelings and hunches and use _no_ logic whatsoever.

Squall continued. "Laguna, Kiros, and Ward, are covering Mordred Plains. Fujin and Raijin have the mountain path, and Seifer and Ellone are searching the crater."

"But...what about me?" Selphie asked.

"You and Irvine are piloting the Ragnarok. You're kind of like a chauffeur service."

"...I don't get it."

"It's simple really. Once anyone's found _anything_, you go grab the others and bring them there. That way, we won't have to fight alone."

"Oh! I'm important! Woo hoo!"

Quistis, Rinoa, and Squall all rolled their eyes.

Selphie stuck out her tongue in reply.

"So," said Rinoa stepping off the Ragnarok and into Lunatic Pandora, "Should we go straight to the seal or pretend to look around first?"

"Let's get this done with as fast as possible."

As they approached the fallen bridge, Squall looked to Rinoa.

"Oh yes," she said, casting aura on herself, "Good ol' Rinoa and her limit breaks."

Squall gave the slightest hint of a smile, "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah, come on," she said holding her arms out to him. She then flew them across. When they landed on the other side, they heard a large clatter, followed by a shriek of some sort. Both immediately jumped into fighting positions. However, when nothing else happened, they ventured closer to the seal.

Something was moving under all the rubble. But whatever it was it was small. _Good_, thought Squall_, we can have this over and done with._ He raised his sword high as he moved the rubble. He stopped in midair when he saw what lay before him.

"A...baby?" Rinoa asked, looking at it perplexedly.

The child was Hyne's, with Hyne's white hair, but instead of Red eyes the girls eyes were dark blue. The tattoo on the child's chest was the proof of it's heritage. A horned angel with Batwings, which Squall and Rinoa soon recognized as Hyne's emblem.

The baby began to screech again.

"...What should we do?" asked Squall.

"...I don't know," said Rinoa, taking off her sweater-vest, "but we can't kill it."

"Well, we can't take it with us!" Squall said as she picked it up.

"We can't leave it here!"

Squall looked around, "You're right. Let's go, we'll figure out what to do at Garden." He spoke into his communicator. *Click "Selphie, we have the Seed, let's return to Garden." *Click

*Click "Roger Commander!" *Click came Selphie's voice.

Selphie pulled into Lunatic Pandora with everyone in tow. As they all emerged ready to fight a demon they all froze when they saw what lay in Rinoa's arms...no one had expected a Baby.

"So, what do we do with it?' Quistis asked from the library, their new favorite meeting place.

"Kill it!" said Zell, "For all we know its a demon, let's end this!"

"Zell!" said Selphie, appalled.

"Alright Zell, you want to kill it? Here," Rinoa said holding the girl in front of him, "Kill her."

There was a long silence as the tension in the room built.

"That's low," said Seifer, "Even for you chicken-wuss."

"SHUT UP ALREADY!" Zell walked across the room and punched Seifer to the ground. Everyone looked at Zell in disbelief.

Even _Zell_ was in disbelief. He couldn't believe he had actually done that. "I-I'm sorry Rinoa, about what I said about the kid, and...I'm sorry..." but when he didn't see any forgiving faces he gave up. "Aw *@$% it!" he said storming out of the room.

There was another silence as Ellone helped cure Seifer's jaw. "I'll go talk to him," said Quistis, leaving.

Rinoa collapsed into a chair, shaking violently. She was very on edge lately. Everyone was. They had all been ready for _anything_ Hyne could throw at them...except a child.

And now _no one_ could think of what to do. Squall walked over to Rinoa and put his hands on her shoulders. Slowly she stopped shaking under his touch.

"Maybe Meliora will know what to do," Ellone said, "Maybe she could send the child to the immortal realm."

"Selphie, go tell Nida to set a course for Shumi village."

"Alright," she said climbing out of her seat. Even _Selphie_ wasn't spunky. Irvine followed sullenly after her.

"Come on, Rinoa, let's go to our room," Squall said as he helped her out of her chair. He wanted to tell her everything would be OK. That he could take care of everything and make it alright.....but he couldn't lie to her.

And the wedding was in three days.

"Dammit!" said Zell, who was hiding out in the training center hall.

"Relax, Zell," said Quistis walking up. She knew Zell well enough that she could have figured out where he went instantly.

"You say that like it's so damn easy!"

"Zell..."

"No! I don't need another lecture from the instructor, thank you!"

That had hurt Quistis a lot. "How about some advice from a friend?"

"Tch! Friends...Ha! You saw what happened back there...I ain't got no friends."

"Zell, you know that's not true. We're all just really...on edge. We-"

"-Not you."

"...What?"

"You're not on edge."

Quistis shook her head, "I don't understand."

"You! You're always in control. Always have your feeling all organized and know when to use what feeling like wearing clothes. That way, you don't make a total _ass_ of yourself like I do."

Quistis stepped back. Something in what he said, coupled with the stress she already had caused her to explode. "Ha! I wish! I'm in so much 'control' over my emotions, half the time I don't even _know_ what I feel! At least you know that much!"

Quistis sat down against the wall and put her head in her hands. _Everyone is on edge_, she repeated to herself, _I just have a lot of stress to deal with, with the wedding and Hyne, and-_ suddenly she realized she was crying. 

It happened every now and again, she'd open the flood gate of her emotions accidentally and everything would come rushing out, including memories of her abusive family from when she was younger. She only wished this hadn't happened in front of _Zell_ of all people. He would never see her the same way again...

When Zell saw Quistis crying, something jumped up inside of him. He didn't like seeing her cry. As a matter of fact he _hated _it... but how could he make her feel better...?

The next thing Quistis knew her lips were pressed firmly against Zell's. _Zell?!_ she thought, "_I can't be kissing Zell! But... I **am** kissing Zell..._

Suddenly, Zell pulled away. "Shit..." he said under his breath. He had let his emotions get the better of him again. "I-I'm sorry...Quistis," he said as he ran off.

Quistis looked after him. _What_ had just happened?

Again, Rinoa, Squall, Seifer, and Ellone were in the Elder's house at Shumi village. Elder was quite shocked to see them again.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking at their worn faces.

"We have a situation," Squall said.

"With Hyne?"

"Not exactly," Rinoa held out the baby.

"...Oh, I see," said Elder upon seeing the Tattoo. He led them to the temple entrance and granted them access.

Rinoa sat on the ground of the elevator, the baby tight in her arms. Squall sat next to her and put his arm around her.

"Squall...?" Rinoa whispered.

"Yeah?"

"What if...what if...we _have_ to kill it?" It was the question that was on most everyone's minds. How could they kill a baby? On the other hand...how could they not kill a demon?

"...What?"

"What if we have to kill the baby?" Squall could feel some of her tears on his hand.

"We won't."

"But-"

"Don't worry Rinoa," he said holding her tightly, " I promise you, we won't."

"...thank you, Squall."

The elevator slowly touched the ground. Squall helped Rinoa up.

"Meliora..." Ellone barely whispered when the Goddess appeared.

"What is it? What is wrong? You successfully defeated Hyne. You should all be happy."  
"She's left her Seed on the planet and we've recovered it..." Rinoa put the baby, still wrapped in her sweater, on the altar. "We were hoping you could take it to the immortal realm..."

Meliora took the child in her arms, it giggled at her touch. "I can not, the child is a mortal."

"A mortal? But then how can-?"

"I don't know how this child has the capacity to bring Hyne back to the mortal realm."

There was a very long silence.

"...Then, what should we do?" asked Rinoa.

"Have you considered giving her a name?"

"You...mean we should raise it?"

"Mightn't that be dangerous?" asked Squall.

Meliora gave them an amused smile. "Of course not. It is a baby. It is not predisposed to be good or evil. It is just what it is. I'm sure that if she is raised in Garden and taught by you to be righteous and good, that she will be. And then we may never have to worry about Hyne returning again."

Everyone seemed to have a great weight lifted up off their shoulders. "So, it's just a baby," Rinoa said, taking it in her arms.

"What will you name it?" Meliora asked.

"Keara," Squall said, looking at Rinoa. Rinoa looked up at Squall and smiled. Meliora faded away.

"So, who is going to take care of her?" Seifer asked.

"I'm sure Edea and Cid will do a good job of raising her," Rinoa said. She had heard Edea and Cid having discussions over children for the last few months.

When they returned to Garden, Squall and Rinoa asked Cid and Edea to take care of Keara, while Ellone and Seifer went to tell everyone what had happened.

"Of course!" said Edea, scooping the child into her arms.

"So, you're _sure_ Keara, should be trained as a SeeD?" Cid asked with his arm around his wife and Keara.

Squall nodded.

Cid nodded and smiled back. "Thank you both very much."

After finding out Keara was mortal and Hyne was actually _finished_ with, everyone's spirits picked up. After all, there was going to be a wedding in _two_ days.

There was a knock at Rinoa's door as she lay in bed. "Come in," she said not moving.  
Zell, walked in. "Hey, Rinoa, I've gotta ask ya for something."

"Yes?" she said sitting up.

"Yeah, can I borrow the ring from your necklace?"

Rinoa fingered it, "Why?"

"Selphie wants it, something about the wedding rings."

"Why not use my engagement ring?" Rinoa said, taking it off.

"No! errr...I mean...Selphie _really_ needs the one around your neck. So, please, could I just borrow it?"

Rinoa hesitated, "...Alright, but _be careful_ with it!"

"Thank you! Sssss-Selphie's gonna be so happy about it! Bye!" he practically ran out of the room after he got the ring.

"Dude, you know it feels like just yesterday I was doing this to _you_ for _her_," Zell said.

" I hope you did a better job lying to her than you did me," Squall replied.

"Oh, I was awesome! Award winning acting from Zell Dincht! Thank you, thank you!" he did some fake bows.

"Now, you _sure_ you won't mess it up?" Squall asked handing Zell his Griever ring and a piece of paper with instructions.

"Dude, trust me! This is where I shine!"

"...I hope so," said Squall, "Because it has to be ready in time for the wedding."

"I know, I know, and everything I have to do is on this nifty piece of paper. Alright, I'm gone!" he said running off.

_Ok,_ _one down, one to go,_ Squall thought as he walked to the quad. Laguna was standing there, silent.

"Hey," Squall said, walking up.

"Hi, Squall!" Laguna said with a fake enthusiasm that was very unlike him, "What's up?"

"Well, as you know...uh...the wedding is in a couple of days. Rinoa, well, Rinoa and I talked. She doesn't plan on seeing her father anytime soon. So she thought, that maybe, since you're my...well..."

"...Right," said Laguna. Other than right after the battle with Ultimecia, Squall and Laguna never talked about their father/son relationship. It had to be the only thing Laguna _didn't_ talk about. Squall never bothered him about it. After all, Squall was the last person to care about "opening up."

"Yeah, So Rinoa and I were wondering if you would walk her down the aisle....?"

Laguna's face lit up, "Of course! I mean...uh...I'd be honored to accept this...and all! Do I need a tux? When's rehearsal? What do I do?"

"Go talk to Quistis and Selphie," Squall pointed him toward the second floor classroom where Quistis and Selphie were doing final touches to everyone that was party of the wedding party.

Selphie and Quistis had their work cut out for them if they were going to finish in time.

No one could believe how fast the wedding had come.

"Hey Rinoa! Look over here!" Selphie was holding yet another camcorder.

"Are you going to be doing this the whole ceremony?" Quistis asked, straightening her blue bridesmaid gown. "After all, you _are_ a bridesmaid."

"Of _course_! I'm going to have the best view!" she said excitedly.

"Shouldn't you record the _guys_ on video too?" Rinoa asked, still working on pinning her white Rose crown and veil in her hair, "After all, you might..._MISS_ something."

"Nope!" Selphie giggled, "Irvine's doing that! I'm going to capture every moment of this from every possible angle!"

Matron rolled her eyes. She held Keara in one hand and a basket of white rose petals in the other. Rinoa insisted Keara be the flower girl, but since she was too little, Matron was her assistant.

"Let me help," said Ellone, coming up behind Rinoa. Rinoa was having trouble with the pins because she was shaking. "Are you nervous?" Ellone whispered.

"No," Rinoa said back, "but I'm excited. I have a great surprise planned for-hey!" She pushed the camera Selphie was holding out of her face. "Selphie! Is nothing Sacred?"

"Nope!"

"IDIOT" said Fujin from one corner. Selphie stuck out her tongue.

"Hey! Fujin! Say a few words for the newlyweds!" Selphie zoomed in on Fujin's face.

"HAVE FUN TONIGHT," she said with a Smirk and a suggestive wink.

"Fujin!" Selphie said, pointing the camera at her own face. "Rinoa, Squall, I can't believe you two are getting married! Oh! You two are so cute and it's _SO SWEET_! Oh!" She turned her face to Rinoa, "Hey! The ceremonies about to start! Aren't you ready?"

"One...more...second..." said Ellone, putting in the last pin. "There!"

"Oh my God! Rinoa you look so beautiful! Turn around turn around!" said Selphie, moving the camera to get every angle of the dress.

There was a knock at the door. "Uncle Laguna!" Ellone said, bringing Rinoa to him. "Here's the blushing bride! Isn't she lovely?"

"You look very beautiful Rinoa," Laguna said taking her arm. "As for the rest of you, get in your places. It's about to start."

As Quistis stood with the other Bridesmaids, she watched as Zell walked down the aisle holding a pillow covered with a velvet cloth. 

She had avoided him for the past couple of days, which was starting to drive her insane. Despite how she acted, Zell was one of her closest friends. She ought to just confront him with her feelings, and she _would_ except she didn't know what her feelings were. What was she supposed to say? She wasn't even sure she correctly remembered what happened anymore...

Then Rinoa began to walk down the aisle. It was truly a sight to behold. Quistis was proud of Selphie's and her work. It looked lovely. Like it was snowing white roses.

"Owowowowow," Laguna whispered as he walked nest to Rinoa.

"Leg cramp?" Rinoa asked through her smile.

Laguna nodded, and did his best to give her a carefree smile.

Rinoa shook her head a little and laughed. As she neared Squall, Laguna released her and went to the side to walk it off.

The wedding took place at Winhill church. A small chapel which was just the right size for their closest friends. Maybe _that _ was why tears were forming in Laguna's eyes, and not just his cramped leg.

Laguna looked around. The chapel hadn't changed much in 17 years...it would be 18 years in a week. Of course, when he married Raine the chapel was decked out in white Lilies instead of Roses.

Of course, Laguna had considered talking to Squall about it. The problem was Squall looked so much like his mother. Whenever he'd try to say anything about Raine...nothing would come out. At least Squall didn't seem to care.

As Laguna looked at the altar he blinked away a few more tears as he saw Raine's face in the candlelight. Suddenly the scent of white Lilies wafted up his nose...maybe he would visit the bar after the ceremony...

"Do you, Rinoa Heartily, take this man, Squall Leonheart, in sickness and in health, in richness and in poorness, to have and to hold, 'till death to you part?" the priest said.

"I do," Rinoa replied.

"Squall Leonheart, you may continue," said the priest.

Rinoa looked up startled. Squall? Continue? What?

Squall nodded to the priest. "Rinoa..." he began. Rinoa looked up at him expectantly. He continued, "...I have loved you a million times as a thousand people in hundreds of lifetimes before, and I will love you a million times more in hundreds of lifetimes to come. But, now, here, in _this_ lifetime, I, Squall Leonheart, offer you, Rinoa Heartily, my heart and soul for the rest of eternity."

Rinoa fought back tears, she didn't even know Squall was capable of saying such beautiful things. "Squall, I-" she whispered.

She was interrupted by Zell holding the pillow before them.

On the pillow sat Squall's griever ring and Rinoa's ring. Squall grabbed the Griever ring and read the inscription. "A million times before, and a million times again. Predestined." He slipped the ring onto her finger. Zell had resized it to fit her perfectly. "With this ring, I give you a piece of my soul, that will forever belong to you, Rinoa."

Now the tears were streaming steadily down Rinoa's face. She picked up her ring. "A million times before, and a million times again, Predestined." She placed in on Squall's finger. "I give you a piece of my soul in return. I will forever belong to you. I love you." Rinoa did her best to repeat Squall's words. Then Rinoa threw back her veil, jumped into Squall's arms and kissed him.

"I now pronounce you Husband and Wife," said the priest with a grin. "And I supposed there's no need for me to say, "You may now kiss the bride." He laughed.

Squall brushed some of the tears off Rinoa's face, "If I'd known it would upset you so much I would have stuck with the traditional approach." Squall smiled.

Rinoa smiled back, "It was perfect Squall, just perfect." Rinoa buried her face in his arms as he stroked her hair.

So, what do you want to say to the newly weds?" Selphie asked Laguna, shoving her camera in his face at the reception.

"Oh! uh..." he scratched the back of his neck. "Can you come back to me and give me some time to think about it?"

"Sure!" Selphie said, running toward Matron and Cid.

Laguna exited the ballroom of Balamb Garden and walked toward Raine's Bar.

No one was running the bar anymore, but the door was open so Laguna sat down at the bar. 

He fingered the wedding ring he still wore, "I'm sorry, Raine. I just wanted to tell you that."

"_Sorry for what...?_"

Laguna jumped up. He had heard Raine's voice. Normally, he'd blame this type of thing on the alcohol, except he hadn't had a drink all night.

"Sorry I left you alone..." he said answering the voice.

_"Why are you sorry for that?"_

"I never got to say goodbye. I never got to see you again."

_"You've gotten to see** him** again though, or will you wait until he's gone too?"_

Laguna knew she was talking about Squall. "I-"

A vase on one of the tables fell to the floor. He bent down and picked up the fallen Lilies.

When he stood, she was gone, if she had ever even really been there in the first place. "Alright, I'll talk to him about it."

The pungent aroma of white Lilies filled the room. Laguna sat down again at hte bar and smiled.

"Hey," said Zell, walking up to Quistis.

"Uh...hey," Quistis said putting down her drink.

"So..." Zell nervously scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah..."

"Uh...I _am_ sorry, Quistis, I-"

"-You shouldn't be sorry about it, if you feel that way..." Quistis knew what it was like to hide her true feelings from someone...it wasn't pleasant.

"Do _you_ feel that way?"

Quistis shrugged, " I don't know, do you?"

Zell shrugged back, "I dunno."

"So then..."

There was a **_long_** silence.

"Should we...uh..._do_ something then?" Zell was starting to get anxious and frustrated, he needed to resolve this somehow.

"Define something."

"I dunno. Should we, like, go out or something?"

Quistis didn't know what to say. She wasn't sure how she felt about any of this, but she knew she didn't _not_ like the kiss... "Alright."

There was another **_long_** pause.

"Um... so do we have to do anything? Should I hold your hand?" Zell asked, feeling extraordinarily stupider than usual.

"I don't know, " Relationships were not Quistis' area of expertise, "I guess you could if you want to?"

Zell held her hand. Then there was yet another **_long_** pause.

"Um...I think we're getting ready to throw the bouquet, so I need to go with the girls..." Quistis said.

"Oh! Really? Ok then I'm gonna go over to the guys! Uh..." he awkwardly kissed her on the cheek. "Bye Quistis!" he waved as he went over to Irvine.

She waved back.

"Ok everybody!" Selphie said into the microphone. Nobody paid attention. "Hey! It's time to throw the bouquet!" Everyone continued talking.

"**SILENCE**!" Fujin yelled into the mic.

The audience covered their ears in pain, but at least now they were quiet.

"Uh...thanks Fujin," Selphie said, "Ok all you unmarried ladies! Get out on the floor right now!"

Rinoa threw her bouquet gently into the swarming crowd of ladies. However, instead of the traditional Cat fight, everyone took a step back from the lucky lady, who happened to be Fujin.

"Great! Fujin wait right there while we throw the Garter! Alright all you non-husbands!" The men reluctantly walked to the center of the floor.

Squall removed Rinoa's garter and tossed it at the small crowd. Suddenly, in a group effort they all pushed Irvine into it's path.

It landed on the rim of his cowboy hat, which he had insisted on wearing to the reception.

"DAMN!" Irvine said, "Not cool, I want a Re-Toss!"

"DISSAPOINTED?" Fujin asked, standing next to him.

"Uh...of course not!...Fujin...heh heh..." The other guys laughed and pointed as Selphie took Irvine and Fujin's pictures.

Ellone laughed a bit herself, until she saw Seifer brooding in a corner, and decided to go try and talk to him.

"Hello..." she said walking up.

"Hey, Ellone," He said looking up.

"Anything wrong?"

"Where are you going next?" he asked completely off topic.

"...What...?

"What are you going to do next? Where are you going?"

"I suppose I'll go back to Esthar with Uncle Laguna until the new Esthar Garden is built, why? Where are you going?"

Seifer shook his head. "I don't know. I had just figured I'd stay here. But the more I look around," he and Ellone looked at all the people chatting and dancing, "the more I realize I don't belong here."

"Well, Esthar Garden is almost done, and though we have plenty of students enrolled, we don't have nearly enough instructors..."

"-Ha! Sorry Elle, I might have grown up in a Garden, but I'm still no SeeD, and definitely not an instructor."

"...oh."

Seifer furrowed his brows, "Is...something wrong? I didn't mean anything by it..." Maybe he _could_ work at that Garden, maybe not as an instructor, but maybe he, Raijin and Fujin could be security or something. After all, they had been one damn good disciplinary committee. Not to mention, Seifer would like to stay near Ellone. After everything that had happened, he'd come to really enjoy her company.

"Well, see...Laguna is making me the Headmaster of Esthar Garden, but-"

"-You'll make a good headmaster. You like kids," Seifer said doing his best to sound encouraging, a tone of voice that he hadn't practiced in quite some time.

Ellone smiled, " I may like kids, and I may be able to handle diplomatic procedures, but I don't know anything about battles. I had been hoping that...you would....well...be the Esthar Garden Commander?"

Seifer would have died to do it. "What about Fujin and Raijin?"

"They could stay as instructors."

Seifer raised an eyebrow. He couldn't imagine Fujin teaching with her one word replies, or Raijin with his "ya know"s between every syllable.

Ellone laughed, "...Maybe not. But they could be SeeDs. We are going to need some more experienced fighters in the Garden for the defense, not to mention to help the younger students train, and-" she cut herself off.

"And...?"

"And, _I'd_ really like you to come..."she said looking hopefully into his eyes.

"Alright, Headmaster Ellone, you got yourself one Damn Good Garden Commander."

"I'm glad to hear it," Ellone said, taking his hand in hers.

Keara giggled as Matron tickled her while she held her in her arms. Cid and Matron laughed along too.

"Cid..."

"Yes Edea, or should I say Matron now that we have another little one to take care of?"

Matron smiled, "It's the little one I'm worried about."

"Why?"

"Well, It's going to be very hard for her...with her lineage...one day she'll ask about that tattoo..."

"And when she does we'll answer her, one way or another."

"But...It's so dangerous, what if we send her down the wrong path? What if she ends up resurrecting Hyne accidentally? and what if-?"

Cid laughed, "And what if a giant meteor came crashing toward the earth? Darling, you always act this way with newborns. And you always do an excellent job."

"But what if-?"

"Look at them," Cid motioned to Squall, Selphie, Irvine, Zell, Quistis, Ellone, Seifer, "They all turned out fine, and so will little Keara."

"I suppose." She did worry a bit too much she thought. It was her own worry and fear that had caused her to take on Ultimecia's powers. It was then she decided she would just do her best with Keara and whatever happened, happened. "Still, it will be difficult raising her."

"And I'll be there every step of the way." Cid embraced her and the baby.

Quistis looked over her shoulder. She had been avoiding Zell all night. This was even worse than before. This was wrong...but how could she tell Zell that without hurting his feelings?

Zell looked over his shoulder. He had been hiding from Quistis all night. Dammit! It was just like him to take action before he knew what he was getting into. How could he tell Quistis that?

While looking over their shoulders, they ran into each other.

"uh...Hi!...Zell..." Quistis said.

"Hey Quistis!...uh...I've got to tell you something..."

"I do too..."

"This was a mistake!" they both said in unison.

"Dude! That's a relief!" Zell said between laughs, "I thought-"

Quistis laughed too, "- I thought so too. Come one, lets get some hot dogs before they're all gone!"

"OH YEAH!"

They walked arm in arm to the Buffet table.

Finally, the time had come for the last dance of the evening, the Bride and Grooms dance.

_Eyes On Me_, Rinoa thought, _no surprise there. But wait until Squall sees what I have in store for him._

Rinoa danced holding him tight and gathering strength. He had done so much for her, she was going to something great for _him_.

In the middle of the song she stopped dancing. "Squall, this is for you." She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Then with a gesture of her arms every flower in the room bloomed to perfection and the sky filled with a million never-ending shooting stars. Rinoa exhaled, she knew she could pull it off without a hitch. She was, after all, a sorceress.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Rinoa said looking up. Then she looked into his eyes, "Do you like it?"

Squall looked at the hundreds of shooting stars reflected in Rinoa's deep brown eyes and smiled, "It's perfect Rinoa," he embraced her tightly, "Just perfect."

The End

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT READ THE SEQUEL: **KEARA'S STORY!**

So now...if you actually WANT to read this here is my disclaimer and a few thank yous.

All of this is Squaresoft's, If I owned all this stuff, I would be a very very rich lady, but as I said, it isn't mine hence this is called a FANFIC. I am almost positive that every single place in this story actually is in the game...if I totally messed up some important fact, please I beg you to email me at Batgirl673@aol.com, and yell at me for having marred the perfection we call FFVIII.

Lastly, Thanks goes to VGC! woo hoo! I told you all I would finish it! Extra special thanks go to Mhari and Minerva for reading this and yelling at me and giving me special ideas from their many ramblings (especially Mhari on that point)

Thank you again for taking the Time to read my Fanfic. I worked REALLY hard on it, so any feedback is greatly appreciated.

(Keep your eyes out for Diana Lee Post on the shelves at your local bookstore!)

(KiK ~~VGC!)


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